More than 100 Labour MPs are against the tuition policy

MPs have given the government a bloody nose over its controversial plans to allow universities to charge top-up fees.

While MPs voted by 267 to 193 against a Liberal Democrat motion to abandon the plans, the government's majority was only 74.

The result came as Labour MPs expressed their opposition to the policy which could see students charged up to �3,000 a year from September 2006.

I don't think the fact that we won the vote today means the controversy has gone away Alan Johnson Higher Education Minister

The fact the government's working majority was cut from 164 to 74, was hailed by the Lib Dems as a "major rebuff" to government policy.

Higher Education Minister Alan Johnson acknowledged that while the government had won the day, the controversy would not go away.

He said he was sure the hearts of his Labour colleagues would "be persuaded" by the argument.

Rebellion call

Ten Labour backbenchers defied the whips and voted against the government, but many are believed to have either stayed at home or abstained.

However, a government motion defending top-up fees was carried by 281 to 175 - a majority of 106.

Labour rebels Harry Barnes Jeremy Corbyn Dr Ian Gibson Kelvin Hopkins Dr Lynne Jones John McDonnell Jim Marshall George Mudie Alan Simpson Robert Wareing

The Lib Dem proposal to abandon fees had been backed by the Conservatives.

Lib Dem education spokesman Phil Willis tried to urge Labour MPs to rebel against the plans, arguing they were based on a "nonsensical notion" that graduates earned up to �400,000 more over their careers.

He said top-up fees would see student debt rise to around �21,000, which would deter many from poorer backgrounds from going to university.

George Mudie, the Labour former lifelong learning minister, agreed asking Mr Johnson if he really believed "the nonsense" he was reading out.

Direct revenue

But the minister said he would not support the proposals if he thought they "would damage the ability of working class kids to go to university".

Only graduates would pay top-up fees "at a very advantageous rate" once they were earning �15,000, he said, stressing they would provide a "direct and predictable" source of revenue.

But Mr Willis said 139 backbench MPs had signed an early day motion opposing top-up fees, and two former secretaries of state for education, plus two ministers had condemned the idea.

UNIVERSITY FUNDING The government wants towards 50% of people under 30 in higher education by 2010 Annual tuition fees would rise to a maximum of �3,000, payable from graduate earnings Families earning less than �30,000 would get help with first �1,100 From 2004, students with family incomes of less than �20,000 will get an annual grant on a sliding scale Families earning under �10,000 will receive �1,000 a year Q&A: Student fees

While recognising there was a crisis in higher education funding, he said top-up fees were not the answer.

"What we are actually seeing is a government that is trying to get 50% of people into higher education and still persists in that nonsensical notion that all graduates suddenly become high earners," he said.

Research showed that students coming out of Oxbridge with arts degrees had no more earning capacity than their counterparts who left school with two A-levels, he said, citing the England football captain.

"David Beckham might not be a graduate, but he is one of the most highly-paid individuals.

"Yet without graduates who are able to mend his foot when it gets broken, look after his money, design his wife's clothes, deliver his children and complete his transfer to Real Madrid, he would be all the poorer."

Tim Boswell, for the Tories, said his party would abolish all fees, including top-up fees, at a cost to government of �700m, and take the "hard decision" to abolish the 50% target.

But he accepted this would mean there having to be "some curtailment" of the less successful higher education establishments.

The Tories are holding their own debate on the issue on Wednesday.