Tuition fees backlash gains momentum on the right

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UKIP's Gawain Towler talks exclusively to Left Foot Forward about his party's position on tuition fees.

On the day of the government’s controversial tuition fees vote there are huge protests uniting people of all political persuasions in Westminster and throughout the country. Whilst the parliamentary opposition is coming from the Labour benches, Nationalists and a handful of coalition rebels, they may have some unexpected political bedfellows in the shape of UKIP, the United Kingdom Independence Party.

Whilst UKIP have had no sitting MPs in Parliament since 2008 and therefore no way to influence the vote directly today, they have a number of elected MEPs.

Talking exclusively to Left Foot Forward, Gawain Towler, a spokesman for UKIP in the European Parliament, outlined the party’s unequivocal opposition to the coalition’s reforms.

Despite having criticised past policies of both Conservative efforts in “screwing over polytechnics” and Labour policies “designed to hide unemployment”, Towler announced that if UKIP were to have representatives in the House of Commons they would definitely oppose the legislation:

“We would be against rises, without a doubt, wholeheartedly….. whacking great fees on them (students) doesn’t get you very far…. we don’t think education is just there to tick an economic box”

While UKIP’s official position is that too many people currently attend university, the widely criticised Government legislation has managed to unite everyone from the left-wing of Labour to the Eurosceptic, right-wing party. Perhaps some issues transcend the ideological divide?

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24 Responses to “Tuition fees backlash gains momentum on the right”

  1. Tuition fees backlash gains momentum on the right « atthegrapevine

    […] On the day of the government’s controversial tuition fees vote there are huge protests uniting people of all political persuasions in Westminster and throughout the country. Whilst the parliamentary opposition is coming from the Labour benches, Nationalists and a handful of coalition rebels, they may have some unexpected political bedfellows in the shape of UKIP, the United Kingdom Independence Party. Read the latest HERE […]

  2. Matt Nicholas

    Bloody hell, even UKIP are against higher fees http://bit.ly/foPlhd via @leftfootfwd #fees

  3. Michael Heaver

    Here here! As Chairman of UKIP’s youth wing I find the hike in tuition fees disgusting. With every graduate now having to compete with 69 other people for a job, less people should go to Uni and do apprenticeships and vocational courses instead. Those who do however should not be put in tens of thousands of pounds of debt before they have even got their first proper job!

    No point having a degree if it means nothing because 40% – 50% of people have one, no point being a graduate if their aren’t enough graduate jobs!

  4. Gawain Towler

    RT @leftfootfwd: Tuition fees backlash gains momentum on the right http://bit.ly/hAQpU2

  5. Koldo

    See an analysis about the missed opportunities for social rights in ‘America’ after Roosevelt’s New Deal, about the the dark prospects in Cameron’s Britain from now on, and about the possible links between the two, at:

    http://rightsincontext.eu/2010/11/18/the-status-of-social-rights-from-fdr-to-david-cameron/#comments

    Koldo Casla
    Rights in Context

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