Tony Blair has been challenged on Wednesday's "rag-bag" announcement on a new funding system for higher education.

Iain Duncan Smith told the prime minister that the plans would "double student debt" whilst introducing "social engineering" with the creation of a new access regulator.

Following last week's cabinet rift over the proposals, the Conservative leader said a "messy political compromise" would hit both students and universities.

"How does the prime minister expect anyone to support the government's 'rag-bag' of a higher education policy when everyone knows it has been cobbled together after a major cabinet row," he said.

He claimed that "the whole cabinet has been held hostage" by the chancellor.

"Isn't it the case that the access regulator, who is an interfering, social engineering, politically correct waste of time, wasn't that the price that he had to pay to get the chancellor to accept his top-up fees," said the Tory leader.

Blair insisted that the new policy would deliver "a huge boost to education funding" and allow the expansion of higher education numbers.

"He of course has set his face against the expansion of that investment and has said that he is against more students going to university," added the prime minister.

Hitting back, Duncan Smith said that "access to higher education should be on merit".

"Universities should be independent of the government and students should not be forced to rack-up huge levels of debt," he told MPs.

"Today's muddled education policy...means higher education and more regulation."

Blair insisted that the government was "proposing a huge increase in public spending on universities" and called on the opposition to say whether it would support the additional cash.