Yesterday, the bad news for Nick Clegg was that more than 100 Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidates have called on him to oppose government plans to raise tuition fees in England. We did not find Swansea West Lib Dem ‘parliamentary spokesperson’ Peter May to be among them.
Today brings further headaches for the Lib Dem leader as Labour attempt to force a vote in the House of Commons that could bring about the first rebellion of the coalition. As students stage their third and largest national demonstration against the plans, MPs will debate the ConDem government’s proposals to raise tuition fees to £9,000 a year. Clegg has said he "massively regrets" that he cannot deliver on his election promise but has argued the proposals are fairer than the current system. He has spent recent days talking to his MPs individually to try to persuade them to abstain rather than vote against the rise in fees.
Reports state that he has written a desperate sounding appeal to the NUS which called on them to stop “distorting” the plans. He stated it was wrong to imply that graduates would be required to start paying pay fees immediately after leaving university. Apparently he expects students to believe him.
Meanwhile Labour & Plaid face their own credibility problems as WAG ministers prepare to announce if they are to emulate the kind of rises seen in England.
1 Comments:
Peter Black's bloh mentions his delight that " Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader, Kirsty Williams, made it clear that if she were an MP then she would vote against [tuition fees]."
I volunteered the view that if she was a badger then she would probably vote against the cull as well. Strange that he hasn't published it.
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