Student loan repayment threshold

That this House expresses its concern about proposals to lower the threshold at which students repay their student loans; notes that the average student leaves university with £50,000 worth of debt and is currently required to start paying off their student loan when they earn £27,295 a year; further notes that under new proposals this would drop to as low as £22,000 a year; recognises that this would mean a significant increase in debt repayments for most graduates with those earning above the average salary paying up to £475 more a year; further recognises that young people are already being hit the hardest by the recent increase in National Insurance Contributions and this latest proposal will mean that university leavers pay double the amount of tax as pensioners earning double their salary; regrets that this pitches current and future students against those generations who benefited from a more affordable higher education; believes that higher education is a vital public good that benefits the whole of society and that the burden of costs should fall on the wealthiest; calls on the Government to scrap their current proposals to lower the threshold at which students start repaying their student loans and to bring forward new proposals that reduce student debts; and further calls on the Government to review the funding system for higher education and to examine the possibility of abolishing tuition fees and funding higher education through wealth and income taxes.