Robert Halfon quits as higher education minister in UK government

Robert Halfon has quit as higher education minister in the UK government, saying he will step down as a Conservative MP at the next general election.

Mr Halfon, who represents the Essex town of Harlow, joins more than 60 Tory MPs in announcing their departure from the House of Commons ahead of a poll that the party is expected to lose heavily.

He had overseen English universities as minister for skills, apprenticeships and higher education since November 2022, using his tenure to push his zeal for degree apprenticeships on the sector.

In a letter to prime minister Rishi Sunak, published on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Halfon says that “after well over two decades as the Harlow parliamentary candidate and as MP, I feel that it is time for me to step down at the forthcoming general election and, in doing so, to resign as a minister in your government”.

Mr Halfon writes that he has been “incredibly proud to support you [Mr Sunak], and your administration’s aims to build an apprenticeships and skills nation, building on my own personal passion for this ambition”.

In a response, also posted on X, Mr Sunak writes that Mr Halfon’s decision “will not have been an easy one to make, but I respect your reasons for doing so”, and acknowledges that Mr Halfon’s “greatest legacy in Parliament” will be his advocacy of apprenticeships.

The exchange of letters highlights other key issues from Mr Halfon’s tenure, including the announcement of plans to cap student numbers on university courses seen as delivering poor outcomes for students, and the passing of legislation underpinning the planned lifelong learning entitlement, which will provide students with access to up to four years’ worth of loan funding on a flexible basis, so learners can take individual modules over the course of their working lives.

Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, described Mr Halfon’s resignation as “yet another nail in the coffin for this beleaguered prime minister”.

“It is no wonder our sector is in crisis when we have a government that has all but ceased to function,” Dr Grady said. “We now urgently need a general election and an incoming Labour government to fund higher and further education properly.”

Posting on X, Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, said that she was “very sorry” to see Mr Halfon, who also had a spell as chair of the Commons Education Select Committee, step down.

“You have been a real pleasure to work with and I have admired your genuine passion for education, skills and particularly for degree apprenticeships,” Ms Stern told the departing minister.

In his first major speech as minister in November 2022, delivered at Times Higher Education’s THE Campus Live event, Mr Halfon had set out one of his biggest priorities by challenging any university not offering a degree apprenticeship “to ask yourself why”.

Mr Halfon remained resistant to universities’ warnings over a growing crisis in funding. In August 2023, he told THE that raising England’s tuition fee cap during a cost-of-living crisis is “just not going to happen, not in a million years”. 

When the then minister appeared at the Universities UK conference the following month, he was warned by David Maguire, the University of East Anglia vice-chancellor, that the government risks “the managed decline of universities” by allowing the erosion of their funding.

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com