Coalition cracking over fees vote?

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Serious cracks are appearing in the coalition over the vote to treble tuition fees this Thursday, with one PPS looking likely to quit, while Liberal Democrat transport minister Norman Baker has hinted that he could quit to vote against the fee hike too.

Speaking to the South East Politics show, Baker said:

“It’s an option (to vote against) if you resign. There are three options on the table and I haven’t yet decided what I’m going to do.”

“There’s a meeting of the parliamentary party on Wednesday and I’ll be listening very closely to my colleagues and we’ll try to reach a common position if we can on that particular occasion.”

Lib Dem PPS Michael Crockhart may quit his role to vote against Thursday’s rise, saying that he would rather resign from the government than vote against his morals. The Evening Standard is reporting that two other parliamentary private secretaries could be on the verge of leaving the government.

Update: It now appears that an imposter may have posed as Michael Crockhart, and he may not be resigning after all.