Johnson warming to graduate tax

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

After some recent murmurings of discontent over Ed Miliband’s plans for a graduate tax, Alan Johnson has given his clearest signal yet that he’ll give his full support to his leader’s proposals. The article Johnson has written for the Times (£) today may be titled “£9,000 is too much. A graduate tax is the only fair way”, but he doesn’t quite go as far as a full endorsement, saying:

“Ed Miliband, John Denham and I are working to construct a fair system that restores the principles we established in the 2004 Act. We are now seeing how casually the variable fees system can be distorted with such damaging effects. It is in these circumstances that there is a strong case for a graduate tax, which may offer a fairer way of sharing costs between individuals and government.”

Hopefully this article will put this issue to bed in these crucial two days before the fees vote when Labour will be looking to show a united front over the proposed hike.