THE GOVERNMENT “does not deserve a shred of credit” for raising the student loan repayment threshold, campaigners said today.

The Department for Education announced the change, which means that students will not start repaying their loans until they earn £25,000 a year, up from £21,000, and claimed that 600,000 graduates would benefit from it.

Universities Minister Sam Gyimah claimed that the higher threshold marked a “key milestone,” adding: “Not only will it benefit hundreds of thousands of graduates in the next financial year alone, but millions in the years to come.”