Staff and students at the University of Sussex have been protesting this week against the management's decision to outsource 100% of campus services to private companies - with a number of students now occupying the conference centre in Bramber House.

I share their concerns about what is happening to services at the university and have written repeatedly to management over the past six months to challenge the outsourcing decision.

Today I've sent this message of support to students and staff:

"As Brighton Pavilion MP, I lend my full support to all those students and staff at the University of Sussex today who are taking a stand against these brazen attempts to usher in privatisation on campus.

"It is deeply concerning that the decision to outsource University services has been made with so little transparency or consultation – making it impossible to know whether these plans are either sustainable or good value for money.

"I’ve raised these fears with the management and am still waiting for an answer as to why it refused to consider any in-house service improvement plan, instead presenting ‘doing nothing’ as the only alternative to outsourcing.

"The University now has a duty to listen to the concerns of staff, many of whom feel anxious about their futures, trade union representatives and students who are today challenging the privatisation agenda in education."