See that none of you have ever actually looked into the farce of student loans for tuition fees beyond a casual glance.

Interest starts accumulating the day you take out the loan.

You only start to repay the loan IF your yearly earnings exceed £21,000 and the amount presented as a percentage of your earnings is stipulated. If on graduation you disappear overseas to work you cannot be compelled to repay a penny.

As you progress in your career and your salary rises your contributions go up in regulated steps. If you, for whatever reason become unemployed your payments are stopped.

After 30 years the debt is written off. Someone starting out at £21,000 who stays in work and through promotions receives increases in salary ultimately earning £85,000 will only pay off about a half of his/her Student loan.

Big Al - "The tories said if you need a few weeks care when you die, we'll nick your house off you."

The present system of payment has a threshold limit of £23,500. If you require residential care you have to sell off your assets including the home you own until you have dropped to £23,500 - then and only then will the state step in to help. The Tories proposed the opposite - a four-fold increase in the threshold sum that an individual could keep and assets only have to be realised AFTER you are dead.