to feel that English students (but not those from the EU!) having to pay university fees in Scotland is grossly unfair?

[bamboostalks]

How can this be justified? Who can defend this? Why is this allowed?

It will be interesting to see the outcome of the case, whenever it comes to court, though I'm not sure that an English Supreme Court is the right body to adjudicate...

Maybe Scottish Universities should then stop accepting anything other than Scottish qualifications?

[stirs shit]

But I understood it was about where you lived and that's how they can discriminate....but if EU can go free too, oh dear.

Posie, the UK - Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and lots of islands - is an EU member. As such, we must extend to other EU members the same privileges that we extend to ourselves.

However, Scotland is a region within the EU, as is England (and Wales etc).

It's legal to discriminate in favour of your own regional citizens.

Scotland has, and has always had, a separate education system.

(Also separate legal and Church set up. It was guaranteed in the Acts of Union.)

So, we have to accept EU students on the same basis as our own.

But we don't have to accept other regions from within the UK the same.

Truly shit then.

I can understand why people are outraged. But that's why it is the way it is.

There isn't even a case yet! And it would have to go through Scottish courts. I can't see any court unlocking the devolution settlement!

You don't understand why a country that has taxes pooled in the same pot allows some of it's citizens access to free higher education but not all, and the same places of higher education that charge £25+K to some citizens of tax payers would then offer free places to people that have never contributed and may never contribute to the tax pot.

This may be legal but it's barely moral.

SORRY....you CAN understand.....not can't.

you said it and I misread.

It is the law. But the law is stupid. Of course we shouldn't favour students from France (say) over students from the home countries.

However, Wee Eck The Great Feeder knew the legal position before he made tuition free and was banking on the EU law to shore up his policy, as clearly Scotland couldn't afford or sustain a system which gave free tuition to the other countries in the Union. It's basically a populist policy (why wouldn't it be? Of course it was a vote-winner) that relys on discriminatory EU law to make it work.

*Wilson is Scottish.

I would like to repeat what a previous poster said, why are you having a go at the Scottish government, when the Problem here is that tuition fees are being charged to English students at all. That is the most ridiculous thing here and what you should be complaining about.

I thought the only reason we got tuition fees in England was because the Scottish MPs tipped the balance by voting in favour! Now to me that's anti English rather than pro Scottish.

Don't know about other Scottish party MPs but SNP MPs have a self imposed ban on voting on matters that only affect England.....

Of course it's all the Scottish MP's fault Nothing to do with the many English MPs that voted for it then?

Euphemia, I was joking of course, but the vast majority of Scottish schools don't do A levels, and it's my impression (because I really don't know) that those which do offer A levels are probably private schools. In which case, they can carry on paying fees for an education - down South.

Agree about Megrahi, btw.

England is the only constituent aprt of the UK not to have it's own Government or Parliament.

Corvax England hasn't got its own Government, the Current Tory/lib coalition at Westminster are the governing party for the UK as a whole.

Euphemia, I tend to agree that if parents can afford £10K pa for primary/secondary education, they can well afford it for tertiary. Hence my "study down south" suggestion; why else would parents put DC through English exams (in Scotland) if you didn't intend for them to study at an English University anyway?