Cutting tuition fees will turn universities into vassals of the state | Simon Jenkins

Lowering the cost of degrees will devastate university budgets. The state will bail them out – in exchange for more control

Meanwhile, back at the ranch – or in this case the campus – the mice are running riot. Ignored by Brexit, Britain’s universities are facing financial meltdown. I predict that within a decade they will become institutions wholly owned by the state, their academic autonomy unrecognisable.

A few weeks ago, three universities were reported to be on the brink of bankruptcy. Uni...