Student Loans Letter to Chancellor

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  The Rt Hon John Healey MP

  Chancellor of the Exchequer

  HM Treasury

  The Correspondence & Enquiry unit

  1 Horse Guards Road

  London

  SW1A 2HQ

  Letter coordinated by Rethink Repayment

  [email protected]

  Thursday 6th August 2026

  Dear Chancellor,

  We write to you as a cross-party group of 121 MPs and peers to highlight a growing concern

  across the country: the compounding financial pressure on recent graduates and early-career

  professionals due to the current structure of student loan repayments.

  While higher education remains a vital pathway for personal advancement and national

  economic growth, successive governments' adjustments to repayment thresholds - together

  with high interest and marginal tax rates - are placing an unsustainable burden on the next

  generation of workers.

  Across the country, we are hearing from young teachers, nurses, engineers, and entrepreneurs

  who are facing historically high effective marginal tax rates. For many middle-income

  graduates, the combination of income tax, National Insurance, and student loan repayments

  means they see less than half of any hard-earned pay rise. At a time when the cost of living

  remains a primary concern, this significantly diminishes disposable income, delays milestones

  such as first-time homeownership and family formation, and disincentivises career

  progression.

  We are united in the belief that the current repayment framework requires urgent review, as

  indicated by the Treasury Select Committee’s recent inquiry recommendations, to ensure it is

  fair, sustainable, and supportive of aspiration.

  We welcome the opportunity to meet with you alongside campaigners to discuss how we can

  better support graduates while maintaining a responsible fiscal approach. We would be

  grateful if you could reach out to Rethink Repayment on [email protected] to

  organise a meeting.

  Yours,

  Co-sponsors:

  Sadik Al-Hassan MP, Labour

  Jas Athwal MP, Labour

  Rt Hon Laura Trott MP, Conservatives

  David Reed MP, Conservatives

  Munira Wilson MP, Liberal Democrats

  Oliver Gardner, Rethink Repayment

  National Union of StudentsAnd the undersigned:

  Abtisam Mohamed MP (Co-chair of APPG for Students)

  Alex Sobel MP (Co-chair of APPG for Students)

  Tahir Ali MP

  The Lord Alton of Liverpool

  The Baroness Altmann CBE

  Gareth Bacon MP

  The Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

  The Lord Balfe

  Apsana Begum MP

  Saqib Bhatti MP

  Bob Blackman CBE MP

  The Baroness Blackstone

  Sarah Bool MP

  The Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

  The Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted

  Rt Hon Dame Karen Bradley MP

  Aphra Brandreth MP

  The Rt Hon the Baroness Butler-Sloss GBE

  The Baroness Cash

  The Lord Cashman CBE

  David Chadwick MP

  Danny Chambers MP

  Bambos Charalambous MP

  Dr Ellie Chowns MP

  Lewis Cocking MP

  Victoria Collins MP

  Daisy Cooper MP

  John Cooper MP

  Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Cox KC MP

  Stella Creasy MP

  Adam Dance MP

  The Baroness Deech DBE

  Carla Denyer MP

  Charlie Dewhirst MP

  Dame Caroline Dinenage MP

  Neil Duncan-Jordan MP

  Sorcha Eastwood MP

  Cat Eccles MP

  Will Forster MP

  Zoe Franklin MP

  George Freeman MP

  Louie French MP

  The Baroness Garden of Frognal

  Dr Allison Gardner MP

  Mark Garnier OBE MP

  Rt Hon John Glen MP

  Tom Gordon MP

  The Rt Hon the Lord Hain

  The Baroness Hamwee

  Wera Hobhouse MP

  Paul Holmes MP

  The Rt Hon the Lord Howell of Guilford

  Dr Neil Hudson MP

  Liz Jarvis MP

  Dr Caroline Johnson MP

  Kim Johnson MPLincoln Jopp MC MP

  Alicia Kearns MP

  Afzal Khan CBE MP

  The Baroness Brown of Cambridge DBE (Julia King)

  Ben Lake MP

  Katie Lam MP

  Alan Mak MP

  Rt Hon Kit Malthouse MP

  The Baroness Manzoor CBE

  Dr Brian Mathew MP

  Jerome Mayhew MP

  Rt Hon John McDonnell MP

  Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP

  Iqbal Mohamed MP

  Gagan Mohindra MP

  Robbie Moore MP

  Joy Morrissey MP

  Rt Hon Sir David Mundell MP

  Rt Hon Dr Andrew Murrison MP

  Neil O'Brien OBE MP

  Dr Simon Opher MP

  Kate Osamor MP

  Rebecca Paul MP

  Toby Perkins MP

  Lee Pitcher MP

  Yasmin Qureshi MP

  Shivani Raja MP

  Adrian Ramsay MP

  Jack Rankin MP

  Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP

  Joe Robertson MP

  Anna Sabine MP

  Jim Shannon MP

  Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP

  Sir Alec Shelbrooke MP

  David Simmonds CBE MP

  Vikki Slade MP

  The Baroness Smith of Llanfaes (Carmen Smith)

  Cat Smith MP

  Rt Hon Sir Julian Smith MP

  Andrew Snowden MP

  Ian Sollom MP

  Hannah Spencer MP

  Patrick Spencer MP

  Greg Stafford MP

  Blake Stephenson MP

  Rt Hon Graham Stuart MP

  Rt Hon Sir Desmond Swayne MP

  Bradley Thomas MP

  The Earl of Clancarty (Nicolas Trench)

  Rt Hon Tom Tugendhat MP

  The Baroness Uddin

  Martin Vickers MP

  The Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe

  The Baroness Watkins of Tavistock

  Rt Hon Sir John Whittingdale MP

  James Wild MP

  Max Wilkinson MPRt Hon Sir Gavin Williamson MP

  Rt Hon Sammy Wilson MP

  Mohammad Yasin MP

  Claire Young MP

  Total signatories: 121

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