A HAMPSHIRE MP last night confirmed he would be voting against increasing tuition fees – because he feels it will stop people from poorer backgrounds from going to university.

New Forest East MP Julian Lewis revealed to the Daily Echo that he has always been against plans to charge students for their education.

Last night he said: “I was opposed to the imposition of charges for tuition fees and now opposed to the increases in the charges.

“The effect will be to deter some of the brightest children from a relatively modest economic background from applying to the top universities and it may deter some from applying for university at all.

“It marks a shift from selection by academic ability of a small number of students to selection of a larger number of students by ability to pay or at least ability to pay back.”

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Conservative Mr Lewis, who studied philosophy and politics at Oxford University courtesy of a grant, said that students would be deterred from applying to the most prestigious universities because they would be likely to charge the highest fees.

He added that as a backbench MP he did not feel the same pressure to vote with the Government and that his was a vote of conscience.

Mr Lewis’ comments come just weeks after one of his constituents Edward, Woollard, pleaded guilty to violent disorder after he threw a fire extinguisher from the roof of the Tories’ London HQ.

The 18-year-old student, from Dibden Purlieu, was a second-year pupil at Brockenhurst College.

He was part of a group who went to the capital for the first round of protest marches on November 10 that were marred with violence and bloody scenes.

Mr Lewis is the latest Tory MP to oppose the Government proposal, which would see students facing up to £9,000 fees to attend university from 2012.

Yesterday, former shadow home secretary David Davis also revealed he was against the hike in fees.

Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has revealed he will vote in favour of tuition fees despite several of his own party members being against the idea.