On her return from the recent party conferences, Dr Diana Beech weighs up the current political climate and what it holds for London universities in the near future
Like my compatriots in the field of higher education policy, I attended two consecutive conferences of the main political parties in the UK last month: the first, a meeting of the governing Conservative party in Manchester, and the second, a livelier gathering of the Labour party hosted in Liverpool.
In the shadow of a general election
Although party conferences take place annually, the 2023 gatherings were significant because they are likely the last party conferences before the next UK general election, which must take place before the end of January 2025. Assuming the current government does not want to risk voter turnout in the depths of winter, while leaving enough time to improve public sentiment, we can reasonably expect to be heading to the polls somewhere within the next six to 12 months.
The main differences between the 2023 Conservative and Labour party conferences have been widely reported, not least via our own London Higher blogs on the Manchester and Liverpool gatherings. When it came to higher education policy in particular, the mood music at both conferences could not have been further apart. Despite some good news for universities from Government in the form of additional funded medical school places and a £60m injection into a Regional Innovation Fund (RIF), the Conservative conference was overshadowed by mentions of “kicking woke ideology out of science” and attacks on “rip-off degrees” from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his cabinet, showing signs that the Government is gearing up to use higher education as a political football as it heads into campaigning mode.
Meanwhile, Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, seized the opportunity in Liverpool to put clear blue water between the two parties’ positions on higher education. In his conference speech, Starmer called out Sunak’s criticism of the “false dream of 50 per cent of children going to university” and stated that “the solution is not and never will be levelling down the working class aspiration to go to university.”
A note of caution
Before we get carried away by the opposition’s welcome change of tone towards universities though, there are several reasons why cautious optimism should define the actions of London’s higher education sector as we edge closer to the ballot box. For a start, warm words can only take a political party so far. Without any detail or a specific plan of action, the next election may be won on a promise of what Labour is not, rather than the policies the party actually stands for. Where higher education is concerned, we still know very little. We know that Labour thinks the current fees and funding system is unsustainable and unfair to those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, but we still do not know what the party would do about it if elected. The more positive rhetoric of Labour MPs towards universities may suggest that better relations with the sector are in store, should the party assume power. However, it is always easier for politicians to say nice things when they are in the opposition. Plus, carefully scripted words in official speeches leave plenty of wiggle room for a future cabinet to get out of any earlier implied commitments.
What is for sure, however, is that the next general election is once again going to be focused on the battle for the red wall, with Labour seeking to regain seats lost to the Conservatives in December 2019. Although nigh on four years may have passed since then, the key to unlocking votes in these seats is not likely to have changed dramatically and we can expect Labour to tap into popular scepticism about both London and the value of higher education as campaigning intensifies. In fact, the drawing of crude north versus south battlelines was probably the most important factor that both this year’s conferences had in common, with Conservative and Labour politicians alike pitching London as somewhere that is already doing well from historical overinvestment and better off than other regions.
It’s complicated
Those of us in London’s higher education sector know the reality is not quite that simple. Focusing only on London’s overall prosperity masks the capital’s glaring inequalities and its many pockets of deprivation. London’s 507,000-strong student population may well be the largest of any UK region, but it is also hyper-diverse, meaning that London’s university sector needs to invest heavily in wraparound support to ensure their students’ wellbeing and success. London’s higher education institutions have already lost the London weighting from their teaching grant allocation, so it is in all our interests to ensure that cuts for London’s higher education sector do not keep on coming based on incorrect assumptions about the financial needs of the capital’s institutions.
Yet, asking for more money isn’t necessarily going to do us any favours either. Whoever gets the keys to No. 10 after the next election is going to inherit one of the tightest fiscal envelopes in recent memory, with various sectors and industries all appealing for bigger budgets. When pitted against a struggling NHS, a strained school system, or mounting international instability, universities are not going to appear to be a government priority, despite being a source of skills, innovation, and benefit to the economy. To ensure universities get a fair hearing from the Treasury, now is the time to be preparing partners from other sectors to advocate for the importance of higher education to their own success. From training highly skilled medical professionals to deliver on the NHS workforce plan to inventing the next technologies to keep us safe against global threats, universities are key to our national progress and we need to make sure they are recognised as part and parcel of other sectors’ fiscal settlements.
Closer to home
Finally, focusing on the next general election must not distract universities in the capital from the London mayoral election, which will take place on 2 May 2024. While the incumbent Sadiq Khan, the Labour candidate, is currently thought to be heading for a record third term, it would be wrong to assume that another Khan term would mean more of the same – which, as far as London’s universities are concerned, is at worst, little interest in their achievements, and, at best, little interference in their affairs. With the increase in the cost of living, London’s housing crisis has rapidly risen up the list of City Hall’s concerns and the capital’s universities could well find themselves answering awkward questions about the sustainability of international student flows, non-residential campus developments, and general land ownership within the Greater London Authority.
While London’s universities, like their counterparts elsewhere in the country, may be prioritising attracting the attention of future Westminster policymakers, it may well be wiser, then, to focus attentions much closer to home. After all, if London’s higher education sector can convince City Hall of its case and importance to the region, then it might just find itself with the biggest political backer of all should current polling prove true and 2024 sees the return of a Labour London Mayor as well as a Labour UK Government.
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This post is opinion-based and does not reflect the views of the London School of Economics and Political Science or any of its constituent departments and divisions.
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