Peter Hain - government "will listen" to concern over fees

Controversial plans to charge top-up fees could be "tweaked", added Welsh Secretary and Commons leader Peter Hain.

Speaking on BBC One's Breakfast with Frost, he said the government was willing to listen to concerns about the plan.

But he stressed that the basic principles of the scheme, allowing fees of up to �3,000 a year, would not be renegotiated.

As many as 100 Labour backbenchers are reported to be against the plans, unveiled in Wednesday's Queen's Speech.

But the speech also gave notice that for the first time the Welsh assembly would be given decision-making authority over top-up fees for the first time.

Many students will leave college thousands of pounds in debt and future students face even higher tuition fees.

In England, they could treble to �3,000, but in Wales, the decision will be left to the Welsh Assembly Government.

Mr Hain also refused to comment on the reports of a �20,000 threshold, saying it would be a decision for Education Secretary Charles Clarke.

'Willing to listen'

"He's been talking to people and is willing to listen about ways in which it can be tweaked," he said.

The Commons leader was confident the government would not be defeated over the issue, despite the signs of rebellion on Labour back benches.

He told the Sunday Telegraph his predecessor, Robin Cook, was "plain wrong" in his criticisms of the Higher Education Bill.

Mr Cook has accused the government of going back on its manifesto promise not to bring in the fees, and says their implementation would damage the Labour Party and the country.

But Mr Hain said the thinking behind the bill remained that "instead of having upfront fees which hit families and parents, you pay it back through a form of graduate repayment tax".

The Commons leader warned Labour opponents of the bill that the party had to stick together, especially with Michael Howard proving a more formidable Tory leader than Iain Duncan Smith.

Students are leaving university with huge debts

He said the Tories' plans to scrap tuition fees would deprive a quarter of a million students of the chance to go to university.

But Mr Howard branded the government's own plans "absurd", saying much of the top-up money would go on arbitrary targets, the new university access regulator and helping poorer families pay the fees.

"The government are actually going to waste the money, the universities are going to see very little, if any, of this money," he told Breakfast With Frost.