Protect Our Young People from Unfair Student Loan Interest
Parents, grandparents, and carers across East Grinstead, Uckfield, and the villages are all telling me the same thing.
Their children are working hard. Studying. Training. Trying to build a future for themselves.
But when the student loan statement arrives, the balance is often higher than it was the year before, even though they are paying every single month.
This is not right.
What is happening?
Under the current system, many graduates are charged interest at inflation plus 3%.
That means ordinary earners can be paying for decades, watching their debt barely move.
Very high earners clear it quickly.
Very low earners never repay in full.
But the middle, the teachers, the nurses, the small business managers, are stuck paying and paying.
That is not the fair deal families were promised.
If we want young people to rent a flat, save for a home of their own, set up a successful business, and start a family, we must stop the state loading all these extra costs onto their ambition.
This is why I am calling for student loan interest to be capped at inflation, not inflation plus 3%.
The Government should not profit from young people trying to better themselves.