A SENIOR Tory MP has said tuition fees for science, technology, engineering and maths should be scrapped.

Mid Sussex MP Sir Nicholas Soames called for the Government to get rid of fees for “Stem” subjects to help with the country’s transition into the digital world.

He said: “I think the Government should scrap tuition fees for the core Stem subjects – science, technology, engineering and maths.

“All are critical for our survival as our transition from the industrial to the digital world goes on at pace, a fact hardly seeming to appear on the Government’s radar.”

Calls of “join the Labour Party” could be heard from the opposition benches as the MP made his suggestion.

Former minister Sir Nicholas criticised the Government’s inclusion of students in immigration targets, claiming it “makes no economic sense whatever”.

He said: “Surely it is absolute madness to have halved our student intake from dynamic India to the benefit of America and Germany.

“Whatever happens in Brexit we should be wanting to attract even more of these talented young people to our country.”

He said there was a “grave shortage of graduates in engineering and science, made all the more acute by the clampdown on immigration”, which he said was “already dissuading important young talent from coming to these shores”.