First lift since 2017 staves off fuller reckoning with higher-education funding but gives no confidence for the future

It was always going to be difficult for a Labour government to get it right on tuition fees. Having once promised they would be abolished, Keir Starmer’s team have been forced to announce an increase just months after assuming office.

In the face of mounting warnings about the crisis in university finances in England, and the very real possibility of some institutions going bust, ministers clearly felt they had no choice but to lift the cap and let fees go up, linked with inflation, to just over £9,500 next October.