One Wales divide over top up fees?

Chair of Plaid Cymru, John Dixon, went on the Politics Show to reiterate his party's opposition to the reintroduction of student top-up fees, on which there is expected to be a statement from the Education Minister Jane Hutt this week. It seemed strange because there seemed to be litte controversy on which to run the story. After all, there is no doubt that all Plaid Cymru politicians will be opposing the introduction of student top-up fees in Wales. This is what the Plaid Cymru manifesto said:

"A Plaid Government will support students who graduate from Welsh Universities and Colleges and work in Wales for five years by paying their student loan repayments during that period. We will continue to rule out top-up fees at Welsh Universities. By doing this we can help create a generation that is forward looking and confident."

So what's really going on? The obvious conclusion to draw is that the Labour party, which always supported top-up fees, is trying to bounce their coalition partners into imposing more debt on students. Plaid Cymru AMs could be concerned because they expect a move towards higher fees in the statement by Jane Hutt this week.

At a time where we have seen the terrible consequences of debt on the world-wide economy, it's not a good time for Labour to be arguing for more personal borrowing and debts. Surely Plaid are right to be arguing that we should be doing all we can to discourage a culture of excess borrowing and debt.