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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was unclear how he would fund the extra costs of his pledge to scrap tuition fees earlier than expected.

Under a Labour government new students would not have to pay fees at all, while those part-way through their courses would also be exempt for the remaining years of their study.

The party has always claimed the measure, which would cost around £9bn a year, would be paid for by raising Corporation Tax.

But until Monday it was thought Labour would introduce the policy to scrap tuition fees .

Corporation Tax has already been set for this financial year at 19%, which runs through to March 2018, so Labour cannot use a tax hike on this to pay for a change in tuition fees this year.

Quizzed on how he would cover the cost of the new pledge, Mr Corbyn told Sky News: "We are going to pay for that through investment in our economy, we are going to pay for that from obviously the income government has from taxation and of course from corporate taxation.

"What we are saying is that tuition fees will be scrapped and we will back date it through to the start of the next academic year."

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Pressed on whether this would leave a £9bn black hole in the nation's finances, Mr Corbyn said: "It's not a black hole and you will see from the statements we put out.

"But we are determined to make sure that those in this country who go to university - and we all benefit from the skills they develop at university - don't end up saddled with massive debts for the future."

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A spokesman for the Labour leader said that the amount has been budgeted for.

He said: "The debt write-off will not cost anything until the 2017/18 cohort of students start paying back their loans, which for many is sometime after they graduate.

"The value of the debt will be less than £3bn (a third of the amount received by universities through tuition fee loans in today's prices).

"However, the actual cost to the exchequer will be less because not all student debt is paid back. We have budgeted for the cost of abolishing tuition fees in every year of the parliament, so we can more than cover the cost of this one-off debt cancellation."

Responding to the announcement, Conservative Education Secretary Justine Greening said: "Corbyn has promised that tuition fees will be abolished this year but he hasn't got the money to pay for it.

"That would mean he'd rack up more debt or raid the higher education budget.

"As ever Corbyn's figures don't add up and his shadow cabinet can't explain where the money would come from."