Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander became the latest senior Liberal Democrat cabinet minister to fail to declare his hand on Question Time last night - repeatedly refusing to say whether he would vote for or against the trebling of tuition fees his government is proposing and which he is in favour of.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander became the latest senior Liberal Democrat cabinet minister to fail to declare his hand on Question Time last night – repeatedly refusing to say whether he would vote for or against the trebling of tuition fees his government is proposing and which he is in favour of.
Watch it:
Mr Alexander follows the lead (or lack thereof) of business secretary Vince Cable, architect of the Bill, and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, who at Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday refused five times to say how he would vote, leading deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman to say:
“If you vote against, that’s the only principled position; if you abstain, it’s a cop out, if you vote for it’s a sell out. Which is it?”
Last Friday, Left Foot Forward pointed out the sheer futility of abstaining:
“Given that there are five Sinn Fein MPs who do not sit in Parliament, a majority of 323 is required to pass legislation if every MP votes. With 307 MPs, the Tories fall short and require the support of at least 16 Lib Dem MPs. But if every one of the 57 Lib Dem abstains, the required majority falls to 294 and the Conservatives can pass the legislation on their own.”
Tomorrow, protesters will descend on the Liberal Democrats’ London conference, at Haverstock School by Chalk Farm tube, from 12-3. Protest organisers the Free Education Campaign say:
“Before the General Election all Lib Dem MPs promised to vote against any attempt to increase tuition fees. They now plan to break their promise and back the Tory proposal of £9,000 fees. There is still time to make them keep their promise.
“We are calling this peaceful protest outside the Lib Dem London Conference to demand that all London Lib Dem MPs vote against higher fees. Their London MPs include Vince Cable who is heading the coalition’s proposals to increase tuition fees to £9000 per year, as well as Sarah Teather, Simon Hughes, Lynne Featherstone, Paul Burstow, Ed Davey and Tom Brake.
“This is one of the last opportunities to put the Lib Dems under pressure ahead of the vote. Bring your friends, chants and banners…”
For more details join the Facebook group and for a map see here.
Update 11:30
It now transpires that the Liberal Democrat London conference at Haverstock has been cancelled – by the school.
58 Responses to “Danny Alexander squirms when pressed on tuition fees vote”
Robert
If the Tories want to apply pressure to bring the LD’s into line perhaps they should try the tactic used by the US Democrats against the Republicans in the House when President GW Bush was trying to get his Wall St bailout approved. The Dems could have carried the bill easily on their own but refrained from doing so to put Republican congressmen under pressure to support the bailout too – which was utter anathema to them, despite it coming from a Republican President.
If the Tory whips could find a few Tory MP’s whose consciences could not let them possibly support the bill (there must be some, surely?) that would throw the spotlight yet more brightly on the LD’s who can, at the moment, still have their cake and eat it by abstaining or voting against.
Too counterintuitive, perhaps?
It worked in the House of Representatives to force the Republicans to share the pain inflicted by Bush Jnr.
Patrick
Alexander visited our barracks once. He was the kind of guy who asked you a question, then didn’t listen to the answer whilst nodding his head…
Deborah Segalini
Haverstock School has cancelled tomorrow’s conference because of the protest. 🙂
Shamik Das
RT @leftfootfwd: Danny Alexander squirms when pressed on tuition fees vote: http://bit.ly/dGqfOm #BBCQT vid
Jane Phillips
RT @shamikdas: RT @leftfootfwd: Danny Alexander squirms when pressed on tuition fees vote: http://bit.ly/dGqfOm #BBCQT vid