Jeremy Corbyn: I never promised to write off student debt

Jeremy Corbyn has said he "never promised" to write off student debt during the General Election campaign.

In a key pledge Labour promised to scrap tuition fees later this year - and Mr Corbyn also vowed to "deal with" the debts of students who have already graduated.

He told NME magazine in June he wanted to look at ways to reduce, ameliorate, lengthen the repayment period or "some other means of reducing that debt burden".

He added: "I don't see why those that had the historical misfortune to be at university during the £9,000 period should be burdened excessively compared to those that went before or those that come after.

"I will deal with it."

This week Mr Corbyn was accused by senior Tory Iain Duncan Smith of using students as "electoral fodder" by indicating he would wipe out their debt.

But the Labour leader said his remarks had not represented a "commitment" to erase student debt and admitted the party had not known at the time how much such a move would cost.

Mr Corbyn said he would be making a statement on the issue soon.

He told BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "I did not make a commitment we would write it off because I couldn't at that stage.

"I pointed out we had written the manifesto in a short space of time because there was a surprise election but that we would look at ways of reducing that debt burden, recognising that a lot of it is never going to be collected anyway and try and reduce that burden."

He added: "We never said we would completely abolish it because we were unaware of the size of it at the time."

Conservative MP Jo Johnson, who is universities minister, said Labour made "outlandish promises to young people during the election" that the party was now "shamelessly abandoning".

"The Labour party's policy platform for students is disintegrating before our eyes. It is becoming ever clearer that Jeremy Corbyn is looking to walk away from a host of undeliverable pre-election promises to students, making this the most blatant example of switch and bait in recent political history.

"Only the Conservatives have a clear plan to tackle our debts while investing in our future so that we can deliver economic security and high quality jobs for hard-working people across the country."

Mr Corbyn's comments come after Education Secretary Justine Greening called on Labour's shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, to apologise for saying in the Commons this week that "we have no plans to write off existing student debt".

The Mail on Sunday reports Ms Greening told her opposite number in a letter that ditching a "clear commitment" was "misleading those who put their faith in you".