LABOUR MPs have fired a warning shot over the government's controversial plans for student top-up fees.

A dozen stepped out of line to condemn the plan, which could leave some students with debts of over '20,000, and urged Tony Blair to abandon it.

This is the first concrete sign that Education Secretary Charles Clarke faces a battle to convince backbench Labour MPs to support the measure for top-up fees when he introduces it in the next session of Parliament.

In a statement, the dozen rebels said they should be widening access to university, not introducing measures which could narrow equality of opportunity.

And they reminded the Prime Minister that the government set out to provide better access for children from more modest backgrounds.

Yet Higher Education Minister Margaret Hodge has accepted that poorer students from families earning less than '10,000 a year would be '900 worse off under the plans if they go to a university charging the full '3,000 top-up fee.

The government plans to defer repayment of the fees until after graduation, but many Labour MPs believe the resulting '15,000-'20,000 debts will put off poorer students. Tweet