UK minister defends changes to student loans as pressure grows for reforms

Treasury minister Lucy Rigby says the government has the right to alter terms of existing agreements

Ministers have rejected accusations that recent changes to student loans were unfair, arguing they are so heavily subsidised that the government has the right to alter their terms.

Pressure has been intensifying on the UK government to reform the student loans system but the chief secretary to the Treasury, Lucy Rigby, told MPs on Wednesday that less than half of young people go to university, and the government had to bear in mind “fairness to taxpayers as a whole”.