The Shadow Universities Secretary has denied Labour claims that the Tories would lift the cap on tuition fees if they came to power.

A Parliamentary Labour Party briefing on tuition fees seen by 51³Ô¹Ï said that the Conservatives planned to lift the fees cap.

But in his strongest statement on the subject to date, David Willetts said: "Universities have not shown that the existing tuition fee has improved students' education."

If universities wanted the cap raised, "they would need to do a much better job than they have so far of showing that fees would benefit students' experience", he added.

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Asked whether the lack of evidence for educational improvement suggested that fees should not be raised, he said: "The evidence so far is very limited."

He added that a recent Universities UK report, which showed that most vice-chancellors wanted higher fees, demonstrated that the "penny has not dropped", as it failed to focus on the benefits for students.

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The briefing also accused the Tories of planning to review tuition fees before evidence had been gathered, and of planning £610 million of cuts to the universities, science and skills budget.

Mr Willetts said: "It's an achievement to pack so many errors into a single sentence."

melanie.newman@tsleducation.com.