Yorkshire economy could be hit hard by Conservative university cuts

The Conservatives said that this pledge would be funded by cutting underperforming courses with the sector’s regulator looking at drop-out rates and future earnings as indicators of poor value for money.

Speaking at a train depot in Cornwall on the general election campaign trail, Mr Sunak said: “I’m not someone who believes that you have to go to university, and all the apprentices I’ve been talking to this morning are proof of that, describing it as the best decision they ever made.

“And what we do know is that there are university degrees that are letting young people down.”

However, leading university figures told The Yorkshire Post that these proposals could hit the life chances of those from deprived communities, and impact the amount that universities contribute to the Yorkshire economy.

Conservative proposal deeply damaging to the reputation of UK higher education because of the message it sends across the world, but it is also economically illiterate.

Lord David Blunkett, the former New Labour education secretary, said: “Not only is the Conservative proposal deeply damaging to the reputation of UK higher education because of the message it sends across the world, but it is also economically illiterate.

“The smaller the student cohort, the less money universities have, and the less spending power into the local economy of university towns and cities. You couldn’t think of a dafter set of policies if you asked to put together a joke manifesto”.

Groups representing the region’s 11 universities said that a university degree still meant that earnings were outstripping those of non-graduates.

“This pattern holds true across all UK nations and regions, and especially for graduates

from low-income areas,” said Dr Peter O’Brien, Executive Director of Yorkshire Universities.

“This is set against a background of structural inequalities and socio-economic disadvantages in regions, like Yorkshire, which ‘levelling up’ is intended to address.”

Vivienne Stern MBE, Chief Executive of Universities UK, said: “Higher education is one of the great drivers of social mobility, and it is vital we protect the opportunities that going to university provides for individuals and communities.”

Figures highlighted by the Liberal Democrats also suggested that recent years had seen a poor take-up of apprenticeships in Yorkshire, with numbers across the region dropping by over 25,000 since 2015/16, down to 38,340.

Constituencies in Sheffield and Rotherham have seen the biggest drop offs, with numbers falling by more than half.

University bankruptcies are one of six key crises that have been noted by Labour’s chief of staff Sue Gray, according to reports, alongside the funding of councils.

Today the County Councils Network (CCN) warned that local services face a “breaking point”.

Leaders of the organisation’s Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Independent groups, said: “Council services in county areas enhance the lives of 26m people, yet those councils face a funding black hole of £2bn over the next two years.

“Whoever wins power, the next government inherits a situation with council finances that are extremely precarious.”