CANDIDATES across the south are wooing the student vote by backing a campaign against tuition fee hikes.

Eighteen parliamentary candidates, from Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green parties, are promising to oppose further rises if elected.

They include Labour's Alan Whitehead, who is standing for reelection in Southampton Test, and Chris Huhne and Sandra Gidley, Lib Dems fighting for re-election in Eastleigh and Romsey and Southampton North.

The candidates have signed a pledge to vote against any increase in fees in the next Parliament and to pressure the government to introduce a "fairer alternative" system of funding.

Tuition fees for students starting this September at either the University of Southampton or Southampton Solent University will already be £3,290 per year - in line with most other universities.

But student leaders fear that an official review into student funding will recommend lifting the cap on fees, which could lead to annual charges rising to up to £7,000 per year.

The National Union of Students'

(NUS) Vote for Students campaign, which has drawn up the candidates'

pledge, is calling on all students, parents and concerned members of the public to cast their vote on May 6 for a candidate who will “fight for a fairer education system” and oppose any increase in top-up fees.

According to the NUS, students represent nearly 15 per cent of the voting population, and in some constituencies could determine who wins and loses.

It cited a recent YouGov poll that found that 88 per cent of the public did not want the current review of higher education funding to even consider increasing fees.

A Government review into student finance could lead to a new system of payments being introduced as early as September 2011.

Both Labour and the Conservatives have refused to rule out raising the current £3,000 plus inflation cap on fees. Vice-chancellors have called for the power to charge undergraduates up to £7,000 a year.

NUS president Wes Streeting said a tuition fees hike would be “spectacularly unpopular”.

He said: “Students and their families are simply not prepared to pay more for less. On polling day they will punish candidates who fail to come clean on their position.”