Students are set to pay up to £3,000 in fees
|
The row over student top-up fees has lessons for how future policies are developed, Tony Blair has said.
Mr Blair told senior MPs on the Commons liaison committee the public could have been given more information about universities' funding problems.
But, he stressed, he had published fees plans a year before MPs debated them.
"You can put out an awful lot of information but until the bill comes before the House people do not really, really focus on it," he said.
Lord chancellor move
Questioned during his six monthly appearance before the committee, made up of the most senior backbenchers, Mr Blair said the issue could have been handled differently within the Labour Party.
"But a government cannot do much more than have a White Paper a year before reform," he said.
Mr Blair also admitted he could have handled better the announcement that the historic post of lord chancellor was to be abolished.
The move led to accusations of a "botched" cabinet reshuffle last summer.
The prime minister said it would have been better to have made clear that the government was consulting on the idea before the change came about.
But he insisted the policy itself was right and argued that debates about "process" should not become a substitute for discussing the issues themselves.
Home
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~32~RS~)
BBC NEWS CHANNEL
News services
E-mail this to a friend
Printable version
