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The Labour government has "totally ignored" further and higher education in its first five years in power, the Liberal Democrats said this week, writes Alan Thomson.

Education spokesman Phil Willis said it was a damning indictment of the Labour government, which promised so much in 1997, that higher education was nearly £10 billion out of pocket and further education in need of an extra £5 billion to meet costs.

Mr Willis said: "The Dearing report prophesied a crisis in higher education unless funding was radically changed. Over the five years, funding per student has gone down and universities are less able to compete in the international market."

Shadow education secretary Damian Green said: "Labour made a firm promise five years ago not to introduce tuition fees. They broke that promise."

A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said that investment in higher education since April 1998 had risen by £1.7 billion - an increase of 18 per cent in real terms over the six years to 2003-04. He said further education would receive an extra £1.4 billion between 1997 and 2003-04, a 20 per cent real-terms increase.