A final warning to the Liberal Democrats

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By Robert Peaty

Tomorrow thousands of students will take to the streets of London. The students of our generation don’t take to the streets in the same way as generations past but there is one issue you can guarantee will activate even the most apolitical of students – tuition fees. Under the Browne review fees are set to rise to up to £9,000 per year and the university budget is set to be cut by up to 80%. The Tories claim that our generation should not pay for the mistakes of the past generation but with this rise we are being asked to do exactly that.

The Labour Party are opposing these rises and we could defeat them with the help of the Liberal Democrats. We should be able to enlist their support; after all every single Lib Dem MP pledged to vote against a rise in tuition fees. However, the coalition agreement only gives the Lib Dems the right to abstain from the vote. This, frankly, is not good enough.

The Liberal Democrats rely on student support. Nick Clegg’s constituency of Sheffield Hallam houses two universities within its boundaries. Other university constituencies such as Bath, Cambridge, Leeds North West and Manchester Withington are in the hands of Lib Dems. This could change. Norwich South which covers the University of East Anglia is held by a majority of 310 votes; if the Lib Dem MP Simon Wright votes for a rise does he really think that 311 voters won’t be prepared to punish him?

Lib Dems such as Menzies Campbell are sticking to the pledge they made and voting against the government. This should be applauded. Clegg thinks he can get away with supporting the Tories because he has an 8,000 majority. However, the Sheffield students of 2015 are not going to take kindly to the fact that their local MP has saddled them with £35,000+ of debt.

Students supported the Lib Dems because they promised that tuition fees wouldn’t rise. When the NUS march tomorrow they are sending a message to the Lib Dems. The message is that if they don’t keep their pledge they can expect a nasty shock come 2015.