India's English-medium universities are poised to receive applications from children of British parents who say they cannot afford to pay the fees that Tony Blair's government plans to impose on them.

At least that is the view of Lord of Harpole, who says he is devastated by the plans to charge university students up to £3,000 per year and would rather send his children to Kolkata instead.

Harpole is the honorary title that Newcastle-based restaurateur Abdul Latif bought in 1994 to boost his business.

In those days life was rosy and the future looked promising for the Bangladesh-born businessman, his wife and their six children.

But the rising cost of living in the UK has forced Latif to drastically revise his thoughts of how to bring up his family.

Top of his list of complaints is how a university education that used to be free must now be paid for like any other service.

He says he is disgusted that his children will have to pay to get on the best courses instead of getting an education on merit.

In an interview to the Sunday Express newspaper, Latif says, "I have done my research and know that the universities in Delhi, Calcutta and elsewhere will offer my children just as good degree courses as they can get in Britain at one quarter of the price I will soon pay here and the living costs are far cheaper too.

"We have discussed it as a family and if need be that's where they will go."

Latif, who came to Britain 35 years ago, added, "There is nothing wrong with the degrees you get in Calcutta, look at the number of Indian doctors working here.

"India is already taking our call centre jobs, they are building state-of-the-art hospitals to treat NHS patients who can't get treatment here, and soon it will have lots of our university students."

Latif's two older children who are currently enrolled on university courses are paying tuition fees of about £4,000 a year.

"By the time my daughter Galla, who is nine, is old enough for university, I dread to think what the annual tuition charge will have risen to. Its obvious that £3000 a year is just the start."