Lewes MP Norman Baker has condemned proposals for top-up fees, the centrepiece of the Government's Higher Education Bill.
Mr Baker accused Education Secretary Charles Clarke of trying to make access to higher education dependent on the ability to pay.
Mr Baker said: "These plans are likely to mean many of our brightest local students would no longer be able to afford a university education.
"It makes a mockery of the Government's claim to be widening opportunity."
Many former students doing socially-valuable but poorly-paid jobs would be burdened with debt as they started their working lives.
He suggested a higher tax rate for people on large salaries would raise enough money to scrap all student tuition fees.
Many Labour MPs are expected to rebel against the Government when the Bill receives its second reading in the Commons later this month.
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