Labour is to force a parliamentary vote to scrap the government’s latest rise in university tuition fees.
The move, led by the shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, will put some Conservative MPs in an uncomfortable position at a time when they have been pushing May to reduce the burden of fees on students.
Under the government’s plan, the annual tuition fee cap of £9,000 is to rise by £250 a year, increasing the debt of a student on a four-year course by £1,000 overall.
Jeremy Corbyn’s gains at the general election in June were partly attributed to a large vote from students after he promised to scrap tuition fees and look at ways of writing off existing fee debt.
The vote on Wednesday could also prove difficult for the Democratic Unionist party, which is supporting the Conservative government but voted against increasing the cap on student fees to £9,000 in 2010.
Labour has managed to secure the vote in the time allocated for the opposition by using arcane parliamentary procedure, as the party attempts to make life difficult for Theresa May in the House of Commons after she lost her majority.
Labour believes the motion is binding, but the government disputes this. The DUP is likely to side with the government in arguing that the motion is not binding and therefore avoid the vote.
However, Labour is likely to look for further opportunities to smoke out the DUP position on student fees in parliament, forcing the party to show its hand and potentially highlight a division with the Conservatives.
No 10 had attempted to get the rise in student fees through parliament earlier this year using secondary legislation, but Labour demanded a vote and more thorough parliamentary scrutiny.
Since then, the government has been trying to avoid a vote in the Commons, but Labour tabled a special motion to revoke the regulations raising the cap on top-up fees, instead of using the normal method of a non-binding motion criticising the government on a policy issue.
Rayner said the government’s desperation to avoid a vote showed the Conservatives “won’t even trust their own MPs to back their latest hike in student fees, so they’re trying to stop us voting on it at all”.
“They may be afraid of debating this issue, but we aren’t, so we will now provide the time and the vote using opposition time,” she said. “The Tories are ripping up the rules of democracy in their desperation to cling to power. They’re not taking back control, they’re trying to take it away.”
Rayner accused the Conservatives of refusing to keep their promise that the fee repayment level would rise with inflation.
“Every MP who votes against us on Wednesday will have to answer to the people they represent, if they back ever higher student fees and ever worsening terms for graduates,” she said.
Labour is increasingly trying to use parliamentary methods to defeat the government on issues that Tory MPs are nervous about after the election. The party was also expected to force a Commons vote on scrapping the 1% public sector pay cap.
On Sunday, the shadow health secretary, Jon Ashworth, called on Conservative MPs to join his party in backing moves to end the “unfair” cap, with a motion to be debated on Wednesday. However, that motion will be non-binding on the government.
