I WRITE in support of our students who are protesting against huge increases in fees.

A well-educated population benefits us all, not just the individuals concerned, as the devolved regions of Scotland and Wales have recognised.

In Scotland higher education is free, while in Wales fees will not rise. Why should students in England be priced out of similar opportunities?

We are all being misled into believing that cuts in public services and the increase in fees are unavoidable.

The Government argues that the cuts will help clear the deficit. But experts have warned that they will harm the economy, not help it and that the resulting unemployment will lead to the Government raising less in taxes and paying out more in benefits.

Green MP Caroline Lucas proposes tackling the deficit by increasing taxes for the very wealthy, introducing a ‘Robin Hood’ tax on financial transactions, clamping down on the billions lost through tax evasion and tax avoidance (more than £100 billion), and scrapping the Trident nuclear weapons programme.

These measures must be better than cuts in public services, that put the most vulnerable in our society at risk.

We must make our preferences clear to the Con-Dem government.

FELICITY NORMAN, Luston, Leominster.