Alexander Temerko said the party faced losing the youth vote for good against a Labour Party committed to scrapping university charges. He demanded the party see ‘proper reform’ and warned: ‘If we can’t become the party of young people, we will not win another election. The key point is that the coalition’s decision to raise tuition fees was a temporary measure in response to the worst economic crisis since the second world war.

‘We were only just out of recession and the public finances needed to be pulled back from the brink.

‘Seven years later, we keep hearing from Theresa May that we’re the fastest-growing economy in the G7. If that’s true, why can’t fees return to their previous level? Other European countries offer low-cost or free higher education; why can’t we?’

He said the Conservatives has been ‘punished’ by young voters for failing to acknowledge the importance of fees an issue.