I WAS astonished to read in the Bolton News that Baroness Warsi, ex-Tory party chairman, has been made Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Bolton. She said “The University of Bolton’s commitment to widening access to Higher Education is something that associates with my own experience of growing up in a strong working class house and progressing as a Cabinet Minister”.

In a speech last week, David Cameron made a bold pledge: “Our mission as a government is to look each parent and child in the eye, and say, ‘Your dreams are our dreams. We’ll support you with everything we’ve got”.

Just three days after his speech, the government used secondary legislation to abolish maintenance grants for poor university students, avoiding proper debate in the Commons and the Lords. Abolishing student grants for the poorest students – and replacing them with loans – will leave them with an extra £12,500 of debt after a three-year course, on top of the £40,500 of debt they already graduate with, on average.

So, the Baroness prospered under the old system but now is happy to pull up the ladder. Such hypocrisy is breath-taking.

Baroness Warsi was awarded a Doctorate by the University of Bolton for her ‘Outstanding contributions to Politics’. Outstanding contributions to the Conservative party should not merit an award from any Bolton organisation or anywhere else for that matter. There are serious questions for the University of Bolton to answer.

Eric Hyland

Harwood