Nonsense on Stilts


I would much rather see even the daftest of government policies, whether in Scotland, the UK, or anywhere else, overturned in the ballot box rather than the courts.

Nevertheless, there can hardly be any doubt that the lawyer who proposes to challenge the outrageous policy of the Scottish government on student tuition fees has a point.

If the Scottish government had ruled that students normally resident in Scotland should be entitled to free University Education, but that ALL students not normally resident in Scotland should have to pay a fee, that is a decision which they should be entitled to make. I realise that such a policy may be challenged by other EU countries, but I cannot see that it would be unfair or unreasonable.

However, to allow students from all parts of the EU other than England, Wales, and Northern Ireland to attend Scottish Universities for free, while singling out residents of those three countries for a charge is blatantly discriminatory. To charge a fee to students attending the same University from Northern Ireland but not the Irish republic, or to charge a fee to a student at the same college from Cumbria but not Calabria, is, to borrow an old expression, nonsense on stilts.

I hope this policy will be reconsidered.

Comments

Jim said…
its one i dont understand. Really I dont get it.

Scotland is not an EU member state, neither is England for that matter. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is, but Scotland is not.

To me its a little like saying Whithaven residents are exempt VAT in whitehaven so are other UK citizens, but people of Cumbria, other than Marra's are not.
5:57 pm
Tim said…
Yet another argument for leaving the EU.
11:22 am
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