Author Archives: G K Teh

Opinion: The impact of the Budget on students

 

George Gideon Osborne. Feared and distrusted by the left, the sensible and reasonable portions of his own party. And now he has given university students yet another reason to distrust him. In the Conservative majority budget issued on July 8 2015, the Chancellor introduced a barrage of attention-grabbing measures, many of which present disappointing news to youths – particularly university undergraduates.

The speculation that the first Tory budget since 1996 will be unforgiving for the young and the unemployed have, sadly, been realised. The National Living Wage (set to £7.20 by next April and £9 by 2020) is all very well for workers over 25, but will not apply to those under 25, who will still have to contend with a £6.50 minimum wage. This means that young people who have just left university will have to make their earnings stretch further to cover the rising cost of living that will result from a more robust economy, which will result from reduction in bank levies and cuts in corporation tax.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 120 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • William Wallace
    Geoff: The situation in secondary schools is as bad as you fear. I've been into several in London and Yorkshire in the past six months to ask how they will adj...
  • Judy Abel
    @Nigel Indeed - lots of people know the current economic model is not working for too many ordinary businesses, including farmers. The Lib Dems could/should do ...
  • Jeff
    Pawel Urbanski 14th Aug '26 - 4:28pm: WHat bothers me is that the shortfall has to come from somewhere, and it lands on income and on high street bus...
  • Jeff
    Peter Davies 7th Aug '26 - 7:48pm: The broken part is not the provision of water (a commodity and natural monopoly supplied to households) but the di...
  • Pawel Urbanski
    @Jeff thank you, the detail on the 2013 rule is useful and I had not seen it. My concern is that there is a set of mechanisms available to people with substant...