MID Cheshire's Tory MPs have united to blast Government plans which could treble university fees.

Tatton MP George Osbourne and Eddisbury MP Stephen O'Brien say they are totally against top-up fees.

Mr Osborne said: 'They will saddle students with huge debts and deter people from poorer backgrounds going on to higher education.

'When I went to university, I was lucky. My education, like everyone else's, was free. And there were grants available to help students from low-income families pay their way. It was only a decade ago, but already it seems like another world.

'One of the first things the Labour Government did was make students pay for their tuition and abolish maintenance grants. The result is that the average student leaves college with around £10,000 worth of debts - a lot of money for a 21-year-old starting out on life.

'Now Tony Blair, who benefited from a free university education himself, is proposing to double those debts by introducing so called 'top-up fees'. This will mean students paying around £3,000-a-year for their courses, and the result is that most of them will leave college with more than £20,000 worth of debts.'

Mr Osbourne says that the amount of debt some graduates are left with at the end of their course may put people off going to university. He said: 'The Prime Minister says graduates earn more than non-graduates so they can afford to pay. I say £20,000 is a huge debt for any young person.

'The result of this policy is easy to predict. Some young people will be put off going to university altogether. They won't be the people from middle class families whose parents will be encouraging them anyway to continue their education, and may be able to help them financially; the people who will be put off will be those from poorer backgrounds.'

Mr O'Brien added: 'Not satisfied with introducing Labour's first tax on education - university tuition fees - Gordon Brown is 'spending and wasting' at such a rapid rate he is running out of taxes to increase.

'Hence why Labour's attention has turned once again to tuition fees and why Mr Brown cannot resist the temptation to dip his hand once again into the pockets of middle-income parents.

'Labour plans to introduce charges for services which are already funded from general taxation. University tuition fees are a tax on learning, leaving young people with huge debts when they start work.'