Michael Howard has pledged that universities would become largely independent of Whitehall control within 20 years under a Conservative government.

A review, discussed by the shadow Cabinet, wants to outline plans by the end of this year identifying several different funding streams.

"We are working on alternative proposals, which will be in accordance with two fundamental principles," shadow education secretary Tim Collins told the Times.

"The first is we want to see greater, not lesser, independence for universities over time. And the second is we want to make sure that access to higher education is on the basis of ability, not ability to pay."