A REBEL North Yorkshire MP accused the Government of using "smoke and mirror" tactics in a desperate bid to avoid defeat in tonight's crunch vote on student top-up fees.

Selby MP John Grogan hit out after Education Secretary Charles Clarke claimed Labour rebels were guilty of trying to "wreck" the Higher Education Bill.

Mr Grogan is backing an amendment which would strike top-up fees from the legislation altogether.

It aims to hold tuition fees at their current flat-rate level of £1,125 a year, preventing universities from charging varying amounts for courses - which rebels claim would create a two-tier system.

Mr Clarke claimed the "ill-conceived" amendment would leave universities free to charge as much as they want and urged Labour MPs to reject it.

But, in a live exchange on Radio Four's Today programme, Mr Grogan said: "Charles Clarke is a fine fellow - but this is smoke and mirrors."

He said: "We all made a deal with the electorate at the last election, all three parties main manifestos ruled out variable top-up fees.

"This amendment would get rid of those variable top-up fees, but would keep the good parts of the Bill - the introduction of grants, the payment of fees after graduation.

"It is not a wrecking amendment. It is a very positive amendment which would keep us in line with our manifesto."

Mr Clarke's argument is based on the technical impact of the amendment. The part of the Bill it would strike out would remove the existing limit on how much universities can charge, he said.

The Government would be forced to withdraw the entire Bill - with students losing the positive benefits of grants of up to £2,700 for the poorest families.

But Mr Grogan dismissed the suggestion as perverse". He said it would only happen if Mr Clarke decided to "throw the toys out of the pram" - and he didn't believe that would happen.

Seventy-two Labour MPs voted against the Government when the Bill went before the Commons last time, slashing Tony Blair's 161 majority to just five in the largest backbench rebellion since he became Prime Minister.

Mr Clarke said: "It is going to be a close vote, but I hope we will win. We have won over a couple (of MPs), but a couple have gone the other way, so it is going to be a very tight vote."

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats have revealed that fewer than 30 per cent of 18-year-olds in York and North Yorkshire are going on to university.

In York in 2002, 28.1 per cent of youngsters went on to higher education, compared with 25.6 per cent in the rest of North Yorkshire.

Updated: 10:48 Wednesday, March 31, 2004