Editing David Willetts (section)

==Second period in government==
Following the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 general election]], Prime Minister [[David Cameron]] appointed Willetts as the Minister of State for Universities and Science.

===Feminism claim===
In June 2011, Willetts said during the launch of the Government's [[social mobility]] strategy that movement between the classes had "stagnated" over the past 40 years, and Willetts attributed this partly to the entry of women into the workplace and universities for the lack of progress for men. "Feminism trumped [[egalitarianism]]", he said, adding that women who would otherwise have been housewives had taken university places and well-paid jobs that could have gone to ambitious working-class men. He went on to say that, <blockquote>"One of the things that happened over that period was that the entirely admirable transformation of opportunities for women meant that with a lot of the expansion of education in the 1960s, '70s and '80s, the first beneficiaries were the daughters of middle-class families who had previously been excluded from educational opportunities [...] And if you put that with what is called 'assortative mating' – that well-educated women marry well-educated men – this transformation of opportunities for women ended up magnifying social divides. It is delicate territory because it is not a bad thing that women had these opportunities, but it widened the gap in household incomes because you suddenly had two-earner couples, both of whom were well-educated, compared with often workless households where nobody was educated".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8420098/David-Willets-feminism-has-held-back-working-men.html |title=David Willets: feminism has held back working men |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |first=Rosa |last=Prince |date=1 April 2011 |access-date=7 August 2020}}</ref></blockquote>

===Tuition fees and student loan debts===
As the minister responsible for universities, Willetts was an advocate and spokesperson for the [[Cameron–Clegg coalition|coalition government's]] policy of increasing the cap on [[Tuition fees in the United Kingdom|tuition fees]] in England and Wales from £3,225 to £9,000 per year.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/dec/06/david-willetts-defends-tuition-fees-universities |title=Tuition fees will be 'fair and affordable' |author=David Willetts |newspaper=The Guardian|date=6 December 2010 |access-date=17 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11952449 |title=Tuition fees vote: Plans approved despite rebellion  |publisher=BBC News |date=9 November 2010 |access-date=17 August 2017}}</ref>

In November 2013, Willetts announced the sale of student loans to [[Erudio Student Loans]] – a debt collection consortium – removing £160m from [[public debt]] but ignoring the implications for former students.<ref>{{cite news |first=Simon |last=Read |date=26 November 2013 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/government-sells-900-million-in-student-loans-to-debt-collection-company-8961790.html |title=Government sells £900 million in student loans to debt collection company |work=[[The Independent]] |access-date=29 November 2013}}</ref>

===Peerage and further ventures===
In July 2014, Willetts announced that he would not contest the [[2015 United Kingdom general election|next general election]], saying that "after more than 20 years the time has come to move onto fresh challenges."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/politics/havant-mp-to-stand-down-at-next-general-election-after-more-than-two-decades-1-6177913|title=Havant MP to stand down at next General Election after more than two decades |work=[[The News (Portsmouth)|The News]] |location=Portsmouth |first=Miles |last=O'Leary |date=14 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180630133141/https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/politics/havant-mp-to-stand-down-at-next-general-election-after-more-than-two-decades-1-6177913 |archive-date=30 June 2018 |access-date=7 August 2020}}</ref> In October 2014, Willetts was appointed a visiting professor at [[King's College London]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/willetts-appointed-to-teach-and-research-at-kings-college-london/2016482.article|title=Willetts appointed to teach and research at King's College London |date=21 October 2014 |first=John |last=Morgan |work=Times Higher Education (THE) |access-date=7 August 2020}}</ref> It was announced that he was to be a [[life peer]] in the [[2015 Dissolution Honours]] and was created Baron Willetts, of [[Havant]] in the [[County of Hampshire]], on 16 October 2015.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=61388 |date=22 October 2015 |page=19846}}</ref> In June 2015, Willetts was appointed executive chair of the think tank the [[Resolution Foundation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/about-us/team/david-willetts/|title=About us: David Willetts|publisher=Resolution Foundation|access-date=30 March 2016}}</ref> In May 2018 he was elected a Honorary Fellow of the [[Royal Society]].<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://royalsociety.org/news/2018/05/distinguished-scientists-elected-fellows-royal-society-2018/|title=Distinguished scientists elected as Fellows and Foreign Members of the Royal Society |agency=The Royal Society |date=9 May 2018 |access-date=9 May 2018}}</ref> In February 2022 he was appointed a director of the Synbioven investment fund,<ref name="Find and update company information 2022">{{cite web | title=SYNBIOVEN LIMITED people – GOV.UK | website=Find and update company information | date=21 February 2022 | url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/13929576/officers | access-date=11 July 2022}}</ref> and in April 2022 he was appointed chair of the board of the [[UK Space Agency]].<ref name="GOV.UK 2022"/>

===Brexit===
In December 2018, Willetts was one of the signatories of a statement by some senior Conservatives calling for a second referendum over [[Brexit]]. This stated, "If we are to remain a party of government, it is absolutely critical that we increase our support among younger generations.  To do this, we must listen to and engage with their concerns on Brexit. They voted overwhelmingly to Remain in the European Union in 2016 – and since then have become even stronger in their views. Since the referendum, nearly 2 million young people are now of voting age. Of those in this group who are certain to vote, an astounding 87% support the United Kingdom staying in the European Union. If we do not hear their voices, who could blame them for feeling excluded and powerless on this most vital issue. The truth is that if Brexit fails this generation, we risk losing young people for good. Our party's electoral future will be irrevocably blighted."<ref>{{cite news |first=Toby |last=Helm |date=16 December 2018 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/dec/16/labour-activists-pressure-corbyn-second-vote-new-referendum |title=Party activists pile pressure on Corbyn to back second vote |work=[[The Observer]] |access-date=7 August 2020}}</ref> In early 2019, he co-founded the group [[Right to Vote]].<ref>{{cite letter |first=Phillip |last=Lee |recipient=[[Theresa May]] |subject=Letter to the Prime Minister from Dr Phillip Lee MP |date=19 March 2019 |url=https://cdn.righttovote.co.uk/assets/righttovote-PMletter19thMarch.pdf |access-date=4 April 2019}}</ref>