Why is Labour planning changes to tuition fees that benefit higher earning graduates before lower earners

Writing on the Guardian's Comment is Free, Vince Cable takes Labour to task on their developing plan to reduce the tuition fees cap to £6,000. He culminates with this question:

"Why is Labour making regressive changes that benefit higher earning graduates before lower earners?"

We deliberately set up the loan system so graduates on lower incomes would not have to pay it back in full. We did not want loans to act as a disincentive to study. However, the proposals floated by Labour would do the opposite: those who benefit from cutting fees are richer graduates. In 2010 my colleagues and I devised a policy that protected universities and students, especially the poorest.

What Labour is floating sounds like an unworkable policy based on a soundbite, which would leave a costly black hole in university funding. We looked in forensic detail at proposals like Labour's and found that, in practice, they simply don't work.

You can read Vince's article in full here.

* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist in Newbury and West Berkshire. He is Wednesday and photo editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Liberal Burblings.