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”There is no Plan B,” said Mr. Blair. “University top-up fees, payable by students with the aid of loans, are the only option.” At a stroke he discourages the fundamental concept of financial prudence and gives a clear message: It’s OK to borrow in the hope that what we can’t cope with today we might be able to cope with tomorrow. Either there really is no Plan B, in which case the Prime Minister must be the only manager in the country not to have an alternative up his sleeve, or the statement is untrue and designed to bully people into doing what the Prime Minister wants. Come to think of it, there seemed very little evidence of a Plan B to deal with the Iraqi people when they did not welcome their ‘liberators’ with open arms. Either way, it is not a comforting prospect.

There is no doubt that university funding is a complex issue, but one might expect the number of variable options to increase with complexity, not distil into a single, one-dimensional solution. Perhaps Mr. Blair is unable to see alternatives because he is asking the wrong question.

The United Kingdom has a population of approximately 60 million. Some of these people do not work because they are too young, too old, too sick, or perhaps have opted out of the responsibility. At any point in time, therefore, a large number of people have to be supported (health, education, pensions, welfare, etc.) by a smaller number of people actually working and paying tax and National Insurance. Over the last few decades there has been a distinct trend: the burden on each worker has increased. This is because more people stay longer in full-time education; life expectancy has increased; an aging population requires more expensive medical treatment such as hip replacements and heart by-passes; and the cost of drugs rises in correlation to the increase in the stresses of modern living. Never has so much been paid for by so few!

It has been suggested that to try to stabilise the ratio of workers to dependents the retirement age would need to be raised to 73, and no doubt this age limit would continue to rise as fertility rates continue to fall. Which brings us to Plan B.

Education is a rising cost that is proving increasingly hard to bear, and yet successive governments continue with the assumption that university degrees should be available to more and more students. This channelling has left the country desperately short of technicians and craftsmen who do not need degrees.

The answer is simple. Cut the number of university places by 50% and continue to offer free tuition to those who are pursuing careers dependent on degrees. Encourage on-the-job training for mechanics, electricians, plumbers, etc, and the worker/dependent ratio improves immediately.

Of course, that only deals with part of the problem; funding for pensions and health care is an issue that must also be grasped. It’s a pity, really, that we never had a windfall (such as North Sea oil and gas) that could have been used to make funded pensions a reality once and for all. But at least this Plan B would be part of the solution. Mr. Blair’s Plan A is part of the problem.