In 2015, the Government of British Columbia (BC), Canada, reversed a long-standing mandate to provide tuition-free Adult Basic Education (ABE) to all adults. Drawing upon internal government policy documents and inter- and intra-ministerial communications obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) tools, key policy documents, social media commentary, and documentation from protest events, the authors adopt an interpretive stance to re-tell this policy moment. Through their analysis, the authors observe struggles on behalf of government actors to adopt a coherent 'policy story' to legitimise the withdrawal of state resources for the education of marginalised citizens, falling back upon a Victorian era desert-based discourse. The study provides insights into the durability of deservingness discourses and the improvisational nature of neoliberal policy making.