Charles Clarke has claimed that top-up fees will open up universities to everyone with "aspiration and talent, irrespective of background".

In an 18-page government statement, which will be sent to Labour MPs, peers, policy-makers and local constituencies, the education secretary wrote: "We could have plumped for a quiet life and done nothing, but that would have been a disaster for the country.

"Why? Because knowledge and innovation are the life blood of the economy and our universities are the driver for this knowledge."