STUDENTS plan a new round of London protests this week in the run up to the vote in Parliament that will put up tuition fees to £9,000 a year.
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Occupations and demonstrations at schools, colleges and universities across the capital are set to break out on Wednesday and on Thursday – the day of the vote – a mass rally in Westminster aims to put last minute pressure on MPs to vote against the fee proposals.
“This week we must keep pressure up as the vote approaches,” said Aaron Porter, President of the National Union of Students.
“MPs can be left in no doubt as to the widespread public opposition to these plans or of the consequences of steamrollering them through Parliament.”
That “steamrollering” line is one being used by some Liberal Democrat MPs, who hope to delay the legislation. Liberal Democrats have seen their poll numbers take a nosedive after they decided to renege on an election pledge to vote against tuition fees.
“Sometimes the most courageous thing to do is to admit you need a rethink,” said LibDem MP Greg Mulholland.
“The best thing for higher education is not to force this vote through on Thursday.”
Despite Mulholland’s delaying tactics, the vote is expected to go through, but campaigners are determined that that won’t be the end of it. Instead, they are set to link the student anti-fee movement to a wider anti-cuts campaign.
“This campaign is very much in the front line of the fight back against the ConDem cuts and has united pensioners, students and trade unionists in an imaginative and co-ordinated coalition of resistance,” said Bob Crow, leader of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union.
“It has exposed the lies and hypocrisy of the LibDems and has opened up serious cracks in the coalition that we can all drive a wedge into.”
