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Lord Glentoran rose to move, as an amendment to the above Motion, at end to insert, "but this House regrets that the Government have not provided the opportunity for the people of Northern Ireland to express their opinion on the matter, either through democratically elected institutions or by means of a referendum".
The noble Lord said: My Lords, I thank the Lord President for presenting the order. We are drawing our relationship to a close with the coming election, and it is perhaps a sad note for me that I am more strongly opposed than I have ever been to the politics of the noble Baroness's party. However, I assure her and your Lordships that there is nothing personal in my remarks about the order.
This is probably the worst example of the Government's performance so far in managing Northern Ireland. It is wrong for a Minister in the Northern Ireland Office to force Labour Party dogma-type policy on an unwilling population. On page 20 of the Labour Party's manifesto, "Ambitions for Britain" in 2001, it states:
The Government have clearly done the reverse in the Higher Education Act, which battled its way—an appropriate phrase—through both Houses.
Paragraph 7 of the Explanatory Memorandum states:
"Nine responses were received to the consultation on the Proposal for an Order in Council. The respondents raised no new issues and reinforced their position as stated during the policy consultation".
We know that that was all anti, so there was nothing else to say.
My honourable friend David Lidington in another place and I have consulted widely among Northern Ireland political parties. I cannot say where the Sinn Fein party stands on the issue, as I tend to ignore it at this stage of its career, but, basically all Northern Ireland political parties are opposed to the order.
In another place, Her Majesty's Government lost the vote on the order in the Northern Ireland Grand Committee. Two weeks ago, the Government rammed—and I mean "rammed"—the order through the other place with the support of 44 MPs who had opposed the same order for the same policy for England. I know from discussions that some of those MPs were somewhat confused and some wish to retract, regretting that they voted with the Government. Her Majesty's Government achieved the order by a majority of only five, despite their overall majority of 200. This is not a very popular order anywhere. Those who supported it included Scottish MPs, although the legislation does not apply to Scotland.
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Furthermore, I have had correspondence with the Northern Ireland Student Movement, the Convenor of which is in your Lordships' House. He is not sitting below Bar because he is a single parent and is in the Lords' Families Room watching this debate—that is how strongly the students feel. I quote from his letter to me:
"I am concerned by the way the current Government is attempting to force through legislation in Northern Ireland against the wishes of the entire Community, against the wishes of Elected Representatives and against the wishes and efforts of the Student Movement".
"The Student Movement believes that top-up fees will be a disaster for higher education and will lead to further entrenchment of educational inequality".
"In addition, introducing higher fees will saddle students with thousands of pounds more debt—Charles Clarke MP, during his tenure as Education Secretary himself admitted students will graduate £21,000 in the red".
That is as stated by Damien Kavanagh, the Convenor of the Northern Ireland Student Movement.
I think that I have produced some considerable evidence that this is a bad order for Northern Ireland. It is not wanted, and it is being forced by an arrogant, over-bearing Government on a community which is democratically powerless and helpless. In my opinion—I hope that your Lordships will agree—it is disgraceful, unpopular and unwanted. Furthermore, I think it is a disgrace that it should be forced on our population by a Minister, Mr Gardiner, who clearly cares not a jot for the student population of Northern Ireland. I beg to move.
Moved, as an amendment to the above Motion, at end to insert, "but this House regrets that the Government have not provided the opportunity for the people of Northern Ireland to express their opinion on the matter, either through democratically elected institutions or by means of a referendum".—(Lord Glentoran.)
Lord Smith of Clifton: My Lords, I speak in support of the reasoned amendment put forward by the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran. As he said, when the Assembly was in operation it rejected the idea of top-up fees, and yet the Government are seeking to impose an English policy on Northern Ireland. Of course, both Wales and Scotland have chosen not to go down the top-up fees route.
It is quite inappropriate for the Government to dictate to Northern Ireland in this way. The measure is also inappropriate for Northern Ireland because, as a region, it has larger-than-average family size and lower-than-average family income compared with the UK as a whole.
At a Limavady College of Further and Higher Education graduation, the acting vice-chancellor of the University of Ulster, of which I was once vice-chancellor, Professor Richard Barnett, said:
"The Government must recognise that debt aversion is a greater roadblock to participation in higher education in Northern Ireland than in any other part of the UK. It must also accept the evidence that the proposed fees, without a proper student
- maintenance package, will significantly affect participation from average middle class families as well as those from social disadvantaged groups".
"Academic ability and not affordability must govern access to higher education in Northern Ireland".
We have heard all about the palaver of the access requirements that will be applied to the Northern Ireland universities. If that is the case, fairly those universities will want an increase in the number of students from the private sector because almost all the students in Northern Ireland come from state schools.
Northern Ireland has the highest participation rate in tertiary education in the UK and it has a most highly trained labour force. Both those will be put at risk if top-up fees are introduced. I beg the Government to think again.
Lord Molyneaux of Killead: My Lords, perhaps I may comment briefly by way of a question. Why on earth are we who represent Northern Ireland both in this House and in the other place lectured continually along the lines of, "For goodness sake, all you parties in Northern Ireland should agree and then Her Majesty's Government can take notice and act thereon"? Here, we have a situation in which all the parties in Northern Ireland agree right across the board that this is an unwanted and unworkable piece of legislation, which has already been condemned without a single recommending voice. I hope that even at this very late stage—I concede that it is a late stage—second thoughts will be devoted to the matter and that a suitable amendment will be produced.
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass: My Lords, while what I have to say in my opening remarks my not be directly related to this order, one cannot touch on the topic of third-level education in Northern Ireland without taking the opportunity to condemn, without equivocation, those thuggish students whose behaviour in the area of Belfast known as "the Holy Lands" brings misery to ordinary residents in the area.
I hope that government, through the Department for Employment and Learning and with the co-operation of the universities, will move positively to bring this dangerous misbehaviour to an end and to penalise the minority of students who make it more difficult to argue the case that I espouse here today.
However, the majority of our university students are hard-working and responsible.
As noble Lords will be aware, this order, when put to a vote, was defeated in another place on 20 January by 11 votes to 10. The Government either expected the absence of the DUP, whose Members routinely do not turn up for committee debates, or perhaps some Labour Members were as keen to see the Government deliver the message they really believe in via the back door of Northern Ireland. Either way, defeated the Government were, and I sincerely hope that they have heeded that message. That would be a practical demonstration of what I have heard argued by the Government in your Lordships' House on several occasions in the recent past about the primacy of the other place.
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Again, I must register my total frustration and dissatisfaction with the way in which this legislation has been dealt with in the absence of devolved government in Northern Ireland. Had the Assembly been in place, our regional representatives would have debated this issue at Stormont, as it was debated in Wales and Scotland, and they would have passed legislation that was appropriate for Northern Ireland. Hence, I am surely justified in repeating the call by my colleagues in another place to set aside this order and to leave this issue to be considered at some future date by Northern Ireland's elected representatives.
There is no doubt that over the past 10 years university education has expanded rapidly and more students are undertaking university education than ever before. That does not, however, mean that more students and parents than ever before can afford the spiralling costs. It is fundamentally important, not just in Northern Ireland but across the United Kingdom, that those from financially less well off backgrounds do not fall by the wayside and lose their right to higher education due to the market forces that now dominate the higher education sector.
We all understand the arguments for extending student loans for those who can afford them, but extending such measures across the board will certainly out-price many students from university education altogether. Noble Lords should remember that, although we have full employment in Northern Ireland, we do not have parity with Great Britain in the level of earnings.
As my noble friend Lord Molyneaux has already pointed out, all Northern Ireland political parties are united in opposition to this order, as may be wished in other spheres. What is the sense of a bright young student winning a place to go to Queen's or the University of Ulster, and then having to drop out or defer because he cannot afford the college fees?
There is a duty of care on the Government. They will be held to account by the electorate on their promises to create opportunity for all in the higher education sector and to ensure that, on the one hand, talented students from less privileged schools are encouraged to apply to the best universities and that, on the other, the state affords them the financial help to do so. That means the Government setting aside substantial financial aid to ensure that students from less financially privileged backgrounds have the potential in real terms, not just in theory, to achieve their full potential in our education system.
3.30 p.m.
Our university system is the envy of Europe. If one looks at the world ranking of universities, in overall terms only UK institutions are serious competitors in a US-dominated world of education. It is great that, due to their global reputation for excellence, our universities—Queen's and the University of Ulster—attract students from the four corners of the globe. That is good for our economy, prestige and education system. But I implore this Government to ensure that
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our own students are not priced out of this market due to that excellence and the demand for places at these universities by the world's brightest youngsters.
The Ulster Unionist Party remains fully committed to maintaining free and fair access to university for all. Can the Government detail the bursaries that they intend to establish to ensure that such access is maintained if they continue in their effort to railroad through top-up fees?
I know many young people who do not have the benefit of family wealth as they set off on their university careers. Many students work 20 or more hours a week to make ends meet while they are taking their degrees. Of course, students should pay their way. I had to do so 50 years ago, and I would be the first to encourage young people to get a part-time job while studying. But it borders on pointless when keeping a job in a local pub becomes more of a priority then attending lectures and writing essays. At the same time, those who can afford it will be spending their free time undertaking unpaid internships and work that benefits them academically.
Do not let this be another classic example of how direct rule fails Northern Ireland. I urge the House to reject this order and to vote for the amendment.
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