Has the Labour Government already decided to raise the cap on top-up fees, four years before its 2009 review of the current £3,000 limit? Chris Grayling, Tory higher education spokesman, this week told The Times Higher that the Government has been offering assurances to vice-chancellors who fear the Pounds 3,000 limit is too low to bring the sort of cash injection the ailing sector needs. "The Labour Party is quite definitely saying behind the scenes that if it wasn't for the big bad Tories opposing top-up fees in Parliament, the cap would have been set at £5,000 in the first place," he said. In the event, £3,000 was all the party thought it could get past its own backbenchers - for now.