Miliband should keep his promise on tuition fees

Students from around the country met this week for the NUS’ annual conference, with the tuition fees debate firmly back on the agenda. Recent reports have indicated that the current system of £9,000 fees has been an unmitigated disaster, set to cost at least as much as the old £3,000 fees system. The time is ripe for another mass student incursion into politics. Unfortunately, the students who gathered there won’t have any friends in Westminster.

The Conservatives will pledge to keep fees at £9,000. There are rumours that if they win the next election, they will put fees up to £16,000 or remove the cap entirely. And as we’ve seen, the Lib Dems are prepared to back them every step of the way. If there’s a Labour/Lib Dem coalition, £16,000 fees will be off the agenda. If the Lib Dems are in opposition, their opinion will hardly matter. If £16,000 fees are on the agenda, and the Lib Dems are in a position of power to do something about it, they’ll likely vote for them.

Labour’s plans aren’t much better. There have been vague statements about reducing fees to £6,000, and rumours that Ed Miliband is considering a graduate tax but hasn’t yet made his mind up. This seems odd. When he wanted the votes and campaigning rigour of Labour Students in the leadership election, his mind seemed made up in favour of a graduate tax. He even wrote an article on it: ‘Why I’d bin tuition fees’. He claimed he’d been impressed by the case for a graduate tax, and mentioned a model that abolished fees and had graduates paying between 0.25% and 2% of their incomes for a 20 year period. This system would end the debt deterrent to university for poorer students and raise far more for universities than fees. It’s not hard to see why Ed liked this system. The abolition of fees and higher funding for universities – what’s not to like? Ed would benefit too.

Take Cardiff Central. It’s a seat with a Liberal Democrat MP. It also has one of the highest student populations of any seat. At the moment, students here feel disenfranchised with politics, having voted for the Liberal Democrats, a move they thought would be synonymous with voting to scrap fees. At the next election, they’ll be crucial to Labour’s chances. They could vote Labour, and we’ll have a fantastic new Labour MP. Or they could stay at home, and the Lib Dems will have a vastly increased chance of winning. Students are so cynical about politics now that it’ll take more than a promise of £6,000 fees to win them over. All current students grew up expecting fees from nothing to £3,000. A level of £6,000 will still feel like a rise to many, and students are notoriously hard to get out to vote. It seems unlikely this half-measure will enthuse students to rise up and back Labour. A policy of £6,000 fees will also mean Ed breaks his promise on tuition fees, something he has consistently derided Nick Clegg for.

If there are TV debates, how can Ed accuse Clegg of breaking his promise when he’s poised to do same thing? You can be sure Clegg will remind him.

Ed Miliband comes across as decent and honest, and polls show they’re two of his best qualities. But he’s in danger of becoming just another politician who breaks his promises to students. He’s in danger of becoming a Red Clegg. Only a commitment to a graduate tax in Labour’s 2015 manifesto can prevent that.