I suggest that the proposal to lift the cap off university fees to help offset the cost of higher education is an interesting but weak step.

I propose that all state education should have to be paid for. There should, of course, be a sliding scale with pre-school paying #163;2,000 per annum and high-school children from #163;4,000 to #163;6000, with the higher figure paid by inner-city children who cost more to educate. The interest-bearing loans could be repaid once the children start work or, if they remain unemployable, from their state benefits. This would seem a much more effective way to meet the deficit rather than by selling off the banks that caused the problem in the first place.

Ian Fenn, Headteacher, Burnage Media Arts College.