Bill Rammell's Liberal Democrat opponent in last week's General Election has congratulated him on his move from the Foreign Office to the Department for Education & Skills, as Higher Education Minister - but with a clear warning.

Lorna Spenceley said:

"I'd like to extend my congratulations to Bill on his appointment in this week's re-shuffle. However, he will now be responsible for the introduction of top-up fees for Harlow students applying to university this September - the top-up fees that Labour's 2001 General Election manifesto specifically said would not happen, and which I forced him to admit in the local press some months ago were 'a mistake'.

"A report published by the Higher Education Funding Council in January this year showed that only 16 per cent of young people in Harlow took up a university-level course, compared with 69 per cent in affluent Kensington & Chelsea. Top-up fees for university students will continue to put off students from less well-off backgrounds, and will make an already unequal playing field even worse. Harlow residents will be expecting Bill Rammell to fight for the interests of our local students, not hammer them further with massive fees and debts."