Lords pass bill to treble student tuition fees

A minor rebellion headed by Baroness Sharp, the Liberal Democrat higher education spokesman, failed to cause significant damage, and the motion to allow fees of up to £9000 a year from 2012 was passed by 283 votes to 215 — a much greater margin than in the Commons last week where the Government’s majority fell to 21.

The legislation has been one of the Coalition’s most controversial reforms, which has drawn impassioned criticism.

In an eleventh-hour submission challenging the rise, John Saxbee, the Bishop of Lincoln told peers that it would normalise debt and was un-Christian.