Tom Gordon MP Secures Parliamentary Bill on Student Loan Repayments

Tom Gordon, the Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, has secured a Bill in Parliament on student finance to tackle the student loans crisis affecting hundreds of thousands of graduates.

The Bill, due to be introduced on Tuesday (15th September), calls for a review of student finance with explicit consideration given to the loans' terms and conditions at the time they were taken out.

The MP, who holds both a Plan 2 and a postgraduate loan, has consistently campaigned on the issue.

Previously working with campaign group Rethink Repayment, he has delivered a petition to Parliament and tabled an Early Day Motion on the issue, calling out the then Chancellor's decision to freeze loan repayment thresholds.

 

Tom said:

"Graduates are being clobbered by student loan repayments. The terms and conditions we're dealing with today are simply not the ones we signed up to; the threshold has not stayed in line with average earnings.

"No other lender could change the terms of a loan after you've taken it out, so why should the government?

"With the cost of living already stretching people to breaking point, these repayments are eating into wages at exactly the moment graduates are trying to save for a deposit or start a family.

"Hundreds of thousands of people are being locked out of the housing ladder and delaying having kids because of debt they were told would work very differently to how it actually has.

"It's simply unfair to keep chopping and changing the rules, and we need a proper plan and resolution."