A report from the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies has concluded that Conservative plans to abolish tuition fees would favour the wealthy.

The findings will come as a relief to ministers, who have been forced on the defensive by the Opposition's policy.

But shadow education secretary Damian Green said the IFS had failed to consider the deterrent effect that tuition fees would have on the poorest sections of society.

Meanwhile, Chris Patten, who was formally appointed chancellor of Oxford University yesterday, used his acceptance speech to criticise the government's approach to higher education.

The EU commissioner and former Conservative chairman said that universities had suffered from "growing interference" but had been given "less money, more strings".