Former Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris has made the extraordinary claim that to get rid of fees "the answer is to vote more liberal democrats into power".
Former Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris made the extraordinary claim on Radio Five last night that:
“If you want to get rid of tuition fees, the answer is to vote more liberal democrats into power, not less, because the only way… If you want to get rid of tuition fees realistically the only way to do it…
“If students want to get rid of tuition fees it’s more Liberal Democrats they need, not Tory and Labour.”
This, despite the fact that it was only because of Liberal Democrat MPs that last night’s votes on tuition fees – trebling the cap to £9,000 and raising the lower limit to £6,000 – passed, by a majority of 21. Harris was debating Left Foot Forward’s Will Straw and leading Conservative blogger Shane Greer on the Tony Livesey show.
Listen to it:
Here is the roll of shame of the 34 Lib Dem MPs who broke their pledge by failing to vote against the government:
Danny Alexander
Norman Baker
Sir Alan Beith
Gordon Birtwistle
Tom Brake
Jeremy Browne
Malcolm Bruce
Paul Burstow
Lorely Burt*
Vincent Cable
Alistair Carmichael
Nick Clegg
Edward Davey
Lynne Featherstone
Don Foster
Stephen Gilbert
Duncan Hames
Nick Harvey
David Heath
John Hemming
Simon Hughes*
Mark Hunter
Norman Lamb
David Laws
Michael Moore
Tessa Munt*
Sir Robert Smith*
Andrew Stunell
Jo Swinson
Sarah Teather
John Thurso*
David Ward
Steve Webb
Stephen Williams*
* abstained – still a broken pledge. Chris Huhne and Martin Horwood were both absent in Cancun; only 21 of the party’s 57 MPs voted against the fees rise.
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73 Responses to “Evan Harris: “If you want to get rid of fees vote more Lib Dems into power””
John Rentoul
RT @leftfootfwd: Evan Harris, Lib Dem MP: "If you want to get rid of fees vote more LDs into power" http://bit.ly/hAlZmb >>He's right, tho
Tom King
He’s stating a fact, though, is he not? The Liberal Democrats are still the only major party whose policy is to abolish fees.
It’s especially pertinent given that Ed Miliband refused to promise to overturn the fees rise yesterday.
Alan W
@Duncan Stott – Lucky Robert Smith.
Must’ve been one damn important energy conference, given they were threatening to drag Chris Huhne back from the international climate negotiations in Cancun.
a6ruled
Evan i want to respect you despite your party affiliation, so here’s an idea.
Don’t tell us what we should do – show us what we should do.
Eddy Anderson
I thought for a moment I was playing three videos at once! I know politicians have to interrupt each other sometimes to get a word in edgeways, but the way in which this discussion was handled seems rather undignified . . .