Nick Clegg went into Coalition talks with Labour demanding "a commitment not to raise the cap on tuition fees". It means he changed his mind on the issue three times in as many weeks.
The Lib Dem leadership went into Coalition talks with Labour demanding “a commitment not to raise the cap on tuition fees”. The exclusive revelation in this week’s New Statesman means that the Deputy Prime Minister changed his mind on the issue three times in as many weeks.
The New Statesman today reveals:
“Nick Clegg and the other Lib Dem negotiators called for “a commitment not to raise the cap on tuition fees” (a watered-down version of their manifesto pledge to phase out tuition fees over six years), a cut in the number of government ministers, a four year fixed-term parliament and “a commitment to no public subsidy for nuclear power stations”. All of these pledges have since been broken by the government.”
It was revealed in Saturday’s Guardian that the Liberal Democrats were drawing up plans to “abandon Nick Clegg’s flagship policy to scrap university tuition fees” two months before the general election. But on April 13th, Nick Clegg recorded a YouTube video for the annual NUS conference in which said “I really think tuition fees are wrong”. Just a day later, the Lib Dem manifesto pledged to:
“Scrap unfair university tuition fees for all students taking their first degree, including those studying part-time, saving them over £10,000 each.”
It now appears that Nick Clegg changed his mind on the issue three times in as many weeks. The revelation will place further pressure on Nick Clegg after his decision to support a near trebling in the level of tuition fees from £3,290 per year to £9,000. The New Statesman also confirm that “the Lib Dems never had any intention of sticking to their election pledge to delay spending cuts until next year.”
30 Responses to “Clegg wanted Lib-Lab Coalition to commit to cap on tuition fees”
House Of Twits
RT @wdjstraw Nick Clegg changed his mind 3 times in 3 weeks on tuition fees. http://bit.ly/c87z3s
Charlville
RT @wdjstraw: Nick Clegg changed his mind 3 times in 3 weeks on tuition fees. http://bit.ly/c87z3s
Kevin leonard
No matter which way you try to word it he is a liar just like the rest of the fraudulent posers still in power they all need a reality check as in a riot or two to show them just how much the people actually trust them.
The students may have been the first but they will not be the last, before next springs ineffectual vote on voting reform I PREDICT a riot
Dario Nahi
RT @wdjstraw: Nick Clegg changed his mind 3 times in 3 weeks on tuition fees. http://bit.ly/c87z3s
Alan W
Day by day it becomes ever clearer why Cameron’s favourite political joke was, and is, Nick Clegg.
@Duncan Stott
So what you’re saying is that he stuck by his pledge right up until the moment he saw the executive summary of Lord Browne’s report and changed his mind. Well that’s alright then.
Clegg does seem to have a real soft spot for silver-haired scions of the establishment like Lord Browne and Mervyn King. A brief phone call from the governor and a dose of fiscal sadism is suddenly just what the country needs. A quick skim read of Browne’s report and suddenly nine grand a year for a degree seems entirely fair.
Sigmund Freud would have had a field day.