Evan Harris: “If you want to get rid of fees vote more Lib Dems into power”

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.

73 Responses to “Evan Harris: “If you want to get rid of fees vote more Lib Dems into power””

  1. Mr. Sensible

    Evan just because a government sets up a review doesn’t necesarily mean it will go with all the reckomendations.

    And I think the Coalition may have changed the context in which it was operating by cutting th teaching budgets by 80%.

  2. Evan Harris

    @Mr Sensible – I agree with what you say there.

    I think that if Labour was in power and had to make savings from HE (whether £3.9 bn or less) then they are even more likely to agree with increase in fees proposed by Browne and less likely to increase taxation (graduate or general) to scrap them. So I don’t understand Alan Johnson’s point on Today programme that he is entitled to be less attracted to fees (as opposed to direct Govt funding of HE) when the Govt book s need balancing.

  3. AdamBienkov

    Tom King – this week was the first and possibly only opportunity for the Lib Dems to ever prevent tuition fees from rising. Not only did they fail to do so but they actively voted FOR them to be raised. Whatever their “party policy” was last year is irrelevant. Their policy now is to raise tuition fees.

    And if you seriously think Nick Clegg will allow abolition of tuition fees to appear in the next Lib Dem manifesto then you’re going to be very disappointed.

  4. Adam Bienkov

    Cable considers not voting for own policy. Lib Dems claim they're against fees when they vote for them. Time to grow up http://bit.ly/hAlZmb

  5. Ellie Gellard

    Laughable… RT @kiramadeira: My head nearly exploded reading this http://bit.ly/hAlZmb Breathtaking

Comments are closed.