Theresa May has admitted a change in her party's approach on tuition fees in England, saying she has listened to voters and fees will freeze at £9,250.
Fee repayment thresholds will also rise, so graduates will start paying back loans once they earn £25,000, rather than £21,000, the PM said. She said the whole student finance system would be reviewed and did not rule out a move to a graduate tax. Labour, which wants to scrap tuition fees, called the plan "desperate".
The prime minister, who is in Manchester for her party's conference, also pledged to extend the Help to Buy scheme which helps people buy newly-built homes, in an attempt to win over younger voters.
Mrs May told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show she plans to apologise to Conservative activists for her decision to call a snap election. She said the message she had taken from the election, at which she lost her Commons majority, was that the Conservatives needed to "listen to voters," particularly younger people and those who are "just about managing".
She said that when the government increased student fees it had been expected that there would be a "diversity in the system," with some universities offering shorter and cheaper courses, rather than always charging the maximum amount.
The planned £250 increase in tuition fees for 2018-19 to £9,500 will not go ahead and fees will instead remain at the current maximum of £9,250 per year. The overhaul of the higher education sector could also see the introduction of fast-track, two-year degree courses, an idea which has been suggested to limit the costs for young people considering higher education.
Other ideas being considered by the government as part of the overhaul are cutting the interest rates on loans and introducing lower fees for students studying certain subjects, such as engineering, where there is a skills shortage.
Martin Lewis, founder of the Money Saving Expert website, welcomed the move, saying increasing the repayment threshold from £21,000 to £25,000 could save many lower and middle earning graduates thousands of pounds.
