Kevin Bonavia

Kevin Bonavia

Labour — Stevenage

Speaking in the House of Commons on 18 March 2026

Debate

Student Loans

Contribution

I respectfully disagree with the right hon. Gentleman. He took me to task on transport; I come from a constituency where we desperately need more bus services. That is why we now have the Bus Services Act 2025, which I believe he would probably have voted against. We are making a difference for young people, and indeed all people who need to use those services. The greatest responsibility we owe to the generations that will come after us is providing them with opportunities and lifting them up, not holding them back. We need to look at the tough issues and find answers to them. What the Opposition have tabled today is a motion that suggests that they can fix their own broken plan 2 loan system by “controlling the number of places on university courses where the benefits are significantly outweighed by the cost to graduates and taxpayers.” How on earth are they going to find out what those courses are? The shadow Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Sevenoaks (Laura Trott), plucked some of them from the air—“Oh, we’re not sure about some of these creative arts courses.” How is she going to evaluate that? Are we going to have a commission? Is the party of the free market going to control the market? How is it going to do that?

More from Kevin Bonavia

Other recent Hansard contributions by the same speaker.

About Hansard

Hansard is the official verbatim record of proceedings in the UK Parliament. Every word spoken in the Commons and Lords is recorded and published — this page is a single contribution from that record.

For Kevin Bonavia's full parliamentary record including voting history, expenses and all other contributions, see the Kevin Bonavia report card.