Tuition fee concessions

The government has offered last-minute concessions on tuition fees in a bid to shore up support before tomorrow's vote.

A significant number of Conservative and Liberal Democrat backbenchers are wavering in their support for proposals to increase the tuition fees cap from £3,300 to £9,000.

This represents the biggest threat to the coalition since the general election, which is why senior figures have been rallying potential rebels throughout the week.

Earlier today business secretary Vince Cable announced three key concessions designed to mitigate the impact of the overall tuition fees hike.

The £15,000 earnings threshold will be uprated by inflation until 2016, when the new £21,000 will be introduced. The latter would then be uprated in line with earnings on an annual basis, rather than every five years as originally proposed.

All eligible part-time undergraduates studying for at least 25% of their time will also now qualify for full loan support for their tuition costs, an improvement from the 33% originally proposed.