MP attacks government over uni jobs

from The Islington Tribune

ISLINGTON North MP Jeremy Corbyn has berated the government in the Commons over the planned redundancies of 500 staff at the London Metropolitan University in Holloway.

Speaking in a debate on education cuts, Mr Corbyn described it as “unacceptable” that rather than discuss the subject, Ministers keep referring him back to the national funding council. Mr Corbyn said: “I have raised this matter in an Adjournment debate, in parliamentary questions, in early day motions and in correspondence with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and with the relevant Ministers of State. They have all referred me back to the Higher Education Funding Council for England. How very convenient.”

He called on ministers to intervene to prevent jobs from being lost and to protect courses and student numbers. The university is being asked to pay back £39.5million, meaning more than 5,000 student places could be lost as well as jobs. “The situation is grim,” Mr Corbyn said. “The university faces the possibility of the loss of more than 500 jobs, the closure of a number of courses and a reduction in student numbers in the long-term. It cannot be the government’s intention that so many people should lose the opportunity of going to university or that so many experienced, effective teachers should lose their jobs.”

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