Business Secretary Vince Cable will vote FOR rise in tuition fees

4:50pm Friday 3rd December 2010 in News Exclusive By Paul Teed

Business Secretary Vince Cable will vote for a rise in university tuition fees, he revealed today.

The Twickenham MP suggested earlier this week he may abstain in a House of Commons vote next Thursday if his Liberal Democrat colleagues wanted him to.

But in an exclusive interview with the Richmond and Twickenham Times today, he said he had reconsidered his decision and had “no doubt” he should support the controversial policy that will allow some universities to charge up to £9,000 in fees.

Dr Cable said: “Obviously I have a duty as a minister to vote for my own policy - and that is what will happen.”

However, he stressed the Liberal Democrat Party has yet to decide how it will vote next Thursday.

He said he had earlier considered voting with the Liberal Democrat Party as a group to abstain in order to offer an “olive branch” to his colleagues, who he said were “finding this difficult”.

The Liberal Democrats pledged to oppose any rise in tuition fees during their election campaign.

Dr Cable said: “There is a dilemma.

“I’m very clear I regard the policy as right and as a member of the cabinet I am collectively responsible for the policy.

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“There is no doubt that is what I should do.”

He will meet students from St Mary’s University College, in Twickenham, to discuss the fees hike at 8pm tonight.

Sixty students from the university joined protesters in central London during the first march on November 10.

On Tuesday, thousands of students descended on central London in the third demonstration against the Government’s plans to raise tuition fees.

Dr Cable said he felt sad when he saw young people on the streets protesting against the policy.

He said: “Whenever I get the chance to discuss the situation with them face-to-face and I am able to explain it I think there is more understanding of the problem - that we had to take very substantial cuts in my department.

“The Labour Party, when in Government, were planning to cut the department by 20 to 25 per cent."

He added: “What we are doing is giving universities the opportunity to maintain high standards by charging better off graduates later in life more than they are at the moment.

“But we built in a lot of protection for students from low income backgrounds and graduates who have a low income or take time out for a family, and I think there’s common consensus that the system we’ve devised is a progressive one.”

He said only a “relatively small” number of universities would be allowed to charge £9,000 a year, and the maximum for most would be £6,000.

He said: “This is a myth that all universities will be £9,000. We have set very tough conditions before they can go above £6,000.

“There is no reason why this new system, or revised system, should stop anybody going to university who wants to go and is qualified.

“Students should be careful not to listen to the more alarmist warnings of the protesters and just recognise that for the vast majority of people who go to university it is good for them, it increases their chances of getting a good job and it’s still a good option.”

The National Union of Students is planning another day of action on Wednesday, the eve of the Commons vote.

Comments(20)

ChrisSquire says...
5:32pm Fri 3 Dec 10

Sensible man. He has no doubt been encouraged by 'Students in Favour Of Tuition Fee Reform' who back his scheme at:
http://www.facebook.
com/pages/Students-i
n-Favour-Of-Tuition-
Fee-Reform/171073002
913221

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IbrahimAhmet says...
6:27pm Fri 3 Dec 10

ChrisSquire wrote:
Sensible man. He has no doubt been encouraged by 'Students in Favour Of Tuition Fee Reform' who back his scheme at:
http://www.facebook.

com/pages/Students-i

n-Favour-Of-Tuition-

Fee-Reform/171073002

913221
Yes, a Facebook group of around 700 people has definitely encouraged him towards voting for this bill.

Cable has betrayed his constituents today and I hope once the Right to Recall is introduced, constituents vote him out.

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jsmith32 says...
7:12pm Fri 3 Dec 10

You *liar* Vince. How can you sit there and attempt to sell the future of the country having promised the complete opposite to those who voted for? It wasn't that long ago I met you at Cambridge and was a financially struggling student and fell for it, and to think I have actually donated to the party now I have the means to.

I suppose the only good news is that voting for this policy will be the death of the Lib Dems. What an awful legacy for Cable and Clegg to have.

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jsmith32 says...
7:16pm Fri 3 Dec 10

You *liar* Vince. How can you sit there and attempt to sell the future of the country having promised the complete opposite to those who voted for you? It wasn't that long ago I met you at Cambridge and was a financially struggling student and fell for it, and to think I have actually donated to the party (now I have the means to)!

I suppose the only good news is that voting for this policy will be the death of the Lib Dems. What an awful legacy for Cable and Clegg to have.

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ken elmes says...
7:24pm Fri 3 Dec 10

Well, Well, Well !!!

Going fully Blue, to hide his yellow streak.

What should we expect from a LibDemCon Government member?

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Phillip Taylor says...
9:09pm Fri 3 Dec 10

Yes! Vince has now made the right decision constitutionally and I suppose we will get all the usual nonsense about double standards etc from all those people who voted 'anything but Tory' in May.
.
Frankly, it is your own fault if you voted LibDem to keep the Tories out as this form of tactical voting merely puts off the day when decisions have to be made by those who promise the 'what time of day do you want it to be' instead of offering a clear policy on the future cost of higher education.
.
At least Vince has made a decision after all the dodging. Now he has to face the local political music: it's tough when you are in government!
,
I wonder if Cllr Eady is still a supporter?

Phillip Taylor

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Twickenham Bob says...
11:15pm Fri 3 Dec 10

I see that Vince wants to stip students of their support whilst has been quite comfortable using his parliamentry expenses to provide free accommidation & equipment to his local policitical party.
.
For years Vince was giving free accomidation to the Local Liberal Democrate Party in his tax payer funded Constituency Ofice.
.
When the parliamentry authorities found out he was made to make his local party pay a token amount (well under the true costs).
.
But they got away with thousands of pounds of back rent. Somthing which cant be right. In light what other MPs have been caught doing - this needs investigation.
.

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acaciaave says...
12:21am Sat 4 Dec 10

I assume that not too many of the students who are protesting study politics. Those who study politics, will realise that the Liberal Democrats did not win the general election, they did not come second, they came third. If people had wanted the Liberal Democrat manifesto they would have voted for it in greater numbers than they did. We, therefore, have a coalition government in which compromise is a necessity particularly given the financial mess bequeathed by the Labour party (who incidentally reneged on their "promises" to students following the 1997 election). Students ought to remember that a majority Conservative government would have introduced a far more punitive package for students, particularly those from poorer backgrounds.

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IbrahimAhmet says...
2:10am Sat 4 Dec 10

Why are you patronising students for? Did you not have the opportunity to study at University and are therefore feeling a tad bitter? I think you are failing to grasp the situation here. You are correct, the Liberals did not win in the election but the pledge that each Lib Dem MP signed clearly stated that this pledge would be "unconditional; regardless of whether the party was in government or in opposition."
.
Additionally just because the Labour Party reneged on their promises doesn't make it right for Liberals to do so. There is nothing progressive about this bill. This along with other cuts is purely ideological!

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acaciaave says...
9:42am Sat 4 Dec 10

Ibrahim: since you pose a personal question I will respond. I had the opportunity to study at university and in the early 1990s I was one of the last of the generation entitled to a grant. If I am a bitter about anything I am bitter about the way the Labour government left an almighty mess which the new Government have to sort out.

The facts are that the increase in student numbers, the dire state of public finances and the fact that we have a Coalition government mean that it was not possible to introduce the Liberal Democrat's preferred policy, which is to phase out tuition fees over a six year period.

In any event, on Tuesday you may well find a large number of LibDem MPs sticking to their pledge and voting against the increase in tuition fees. Cut them some slack.

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aspicer says...
10:12am Sat 4 Dec 10

Vince, i thought you said tuition fees were like the Poll Tax? will you be reintroducing the Poll Tax soon:

http://www.bobpiper.
co.uk/2010/11/vince-
cable-and-poll-tax-d
ishonesty/

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ChrisSquire says...
11:52am Sat 4 Dec 10

Now Vince Cable rows back after saying he WOULD vote for tuition fee rise

• The Daily Mail writes:‘ . . BUT when challenged on student radio last night, he insisted: 'I didn't announce anything. I think there might have been some slight misunderstanding.

'What I did try to explain was that the Liberal Democrats as a parliamentary party will be deciding as a group how they will vote on Thursday and I would imagine that in the next few days there will be clarity on that issue. I have my own views as an individual and as the Cabinet minister responsible, but the decision on how we vote in Parliament - it is true in our party, it's true in the Conservatives and it's true in the Labour Party - is decided as a group, collectively, and that is how we will make it.'

There were suggestions that Mr Cable had thought his earlier interview would not be published until late next week whereas it was immediately put up online . . ’

http://www.dailymail
.co.uk/news/article-
1335536/Vince-Cable-
ties-knots-hell-vote
-tuition-fees-rise.h
tml#ixzz178rThxDW

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RickyGord says...
12:10pm Sat 4 Dec 10

For the Lib Dems to claim that Dr Cable didn't know the interview would be published online is a poor piece of political spin.
Either it means they have been trying to deceive Lib Dem backbenchers, by making them think Dr Cable would support them by abstaining himself - or it means they are a bunch of incompetent silly billies, who reckoned that a highly reputable local newspaper would sit on that story until next week.
Well done RTT for exposing once and for all why voting Lib Dem is frankly pointless.

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Eyeball says...
2:57pm Sat 4 Dec 10

Well well, not sure where Vince is just now, has he flipped or flopped but never mind Vince Master Squire will always be there to try and disguise the political slush you so often get into from the reality the rest of us actually live in.
Sincerely Eyeballing you

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dht09 says...
4:19pm Sat 4 Dec 10

The issue here is not the policy (which in fairness the Conservatives made clear their feelings on before the election), but the stance Vince took to get elected.

During the campaign, when I was the Conservative Candidate, I went to St Mary's University and did a radio interview for the student station.

I was asked about tuition fees and said that I would vote for an increase and explained why.

I knew this would not make me popular with students, but it was more important to me to tell the truth so that voters knew where they stood.

Vince has always fought the politics of opposition, so now that he is part of Government, his flip-flopping is coming back to haunt him.

Sadly, all politicians from all parties will be judged because a few put power before principle.

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acaciaave says...
6:13pm Sat 4 Dec 10

Deborah, that comment is absurd and your last sentence, in particular, a cheap shot. You know perfectly well that a Coalition was formed for the good of the country in part because the Conservatives did not win the election: no one won. The Conservatives have also had to jettison promises, commitments and ambitions in order to form a stable Government. I am sure there will be many Twickenham residents who would have liked a Conservative Government that would have been able to carry out its promise to increase the Inheritance tax threshold. Another promise thrown out of the window in order to provide stable Government.

Likewise, the Liberal Democrats were seeking to win the election. They did not win and so are not able to carry out all of the pledges made in their manifesto. As Gordon Brown said in the TV debates, get real.

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Scott Naylor says...
6:35pm Sat 4 Dec 10

Well well well, has Dr TV got himself into a bit of a 'spin' too far this time, not remembering which audience he has told where and when? This is the trouble with not being straight-forward, you start fogetting which story you told where to suite the immediate audience.

So for the local 'Sage of Twickenham' who repeated what a journalist has first said to howls of laughter in the House of Commons, where 'Dr Cable noted Gordon Brown's remarkable transformation over a few weeks fom Stalin to Mr Bean;

In this case, are we seeing the clear transformation of a man not used to making National decisions affecting our whole student community and , can it now be said that Vince has transformed in a few weeks 'from Dr Stallin to Mr Has Bean?'

That would make two of them who didn't listen then......... and both of them stood together North of the border - as Labout party members - oh those were the days..... So how long will it be before her will be repatriating to the Labour Party?

Mr Squire to the rescue??

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jeremyhm says...
6:38pm Sun 5 Dec 10

As Dr Cable is keen on the terpsichorean art, here's a suggestion for him to lead his party into a formation dance
To the tune of "HOKEY COKEY":

You put your "yes" vote in,
You put your "yes" vote out,
You put your "abstain" in,
Then you turn it all about;
You do the "query voting?"
and you turn about.
That's what it's all about!

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alex twickenham says...
6:58pm Sun 5 Dec 10

I quite enjoy reading the posts from acaciaave Hampton - they don't half remind me of a Hampton resident businessman, now hot-shot LibDem Councillor who used to dominate the much missed Voxpop pages of Oncom. Whilst in power, the LibDems never had a more stalwart warrior who would leap to their defence at the slightest challenge. Perhaps aaHampton is indeed he?
Whoever it is; In the most recent post, after the obligatory "cheap shot" jibe at Deborah Thomas, he or she went on to say: "Likewise, the Liberal Democrats were seeking to win the election. (get real - aa, who do you think you are trying to kid?) They did not win and so are not able to carry out all of the pledges made in their manifesto. (Easy to make pledges when you never expected to be in the hot seat isn't it?) As Gordon Brown said in the TV debates, "get real". Perhaps its time our local LibDem activists took GB's advice - they never expected to find themselves in opposition locally and are finding it just as difficult to adjust to power on the national stage. Time to rethink their strategy of bludgeoning hapless voters into submission once they are safely elected? eg: The CO2/CPZ tax - never in their manifesto was it? Good to see that its been ditched by a majority of 4:1 in a fair consultation conducted by the current administration unlike the 2007 sham conducted by the LibDems which gave honest consultation a bad name.
No wonder the LibDems were voted out of power in Richmond & Twickenham and Vince is wringing his hands in public.
Alex.
PS: I do like jeremyhm's hokey-kokey

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Phillip Taylor says...
8:11pm Sun 5 Dec 10

I see that Acacia Ave is being a deliberate pain in his/her posting.
.
The response by Deborah Thomas was a perfectly reasonable and accurate one for those who did proper campaigning in the election (as she did and worked very hard indeed).
.
It makes me think that Acacia Ave is a Liberal Democrat who wants to be in goverment just so long as no difficult decisions are made to upset the applecart. The problem with the Liberals is that they do not know what to do with power when they get it and want to re-write the concept of collective cabinet responsibility.
.
If Vince is to be believed, it is Clegg who has caused all the trouble and not St Vince who was going to vote for the fees hike in any event. It is a complete mess for the Liberals and Acacia Ave must surely see that... and I am not calling him/her 'shirley'!
.
Phillip Taylor

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