Saying Goodbye to Broken Promises?

Once upon a time a fresh faced Party leader called Nick Clegg spoke eloquently about “broken promises - there have been too many in the last few years; too many in the last 30 years in fact; our nation has been littered with them; a trail of broken promises ....I think it is time to do things differently ....I think it is a time for promises to be kept “ .

These are the opening lines from the Liberal Democratic Party Election broadcast 13 April 2010. Check out on Youtube before it disappears. Hat tip Tom.

Meanwhile, talking about “promises” ...."page 39 of the 'Liberal Democratic Manifesto 2010' states " We will scrap unfair fees for all students taking their first degree, including those studying part-time, saving them over £10,000 each. We have a financially responsible plan to phase fees out over six years, so that the charge is affordable even in these difficult economic times, and without cutting university income. We will immediately scrap fees for final year students” Hat tip Three Score Years and 10.

Finally the BBC reports that the new “Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has insisted that plans to charge tuition fees of up to £9,000 a year to students in England represent a "fair and progressive solution to a very difficult problem".

Nuf said?

Tuition Fees

It's decision day for the coalition's tuition fees proposals, and the Liberal Democrats in particular are under pressure, as many of their MPs pledged to oppose any increases in the fees during the election campaign. A dozen MPs are expected to rebel, and several others (including Lib Dem Deputy Leader Simon Hughes) will abstain, but at present this does not seem sufficient to overturn the motion. There is a good overview of the tuition fees debate on this BBC page, and please let us know your opinions on the issue!

UPDATE: What a day! The motion was (just) carried with a majority of 21 votes. 21 Liberal Democrat MPs voted against it and 8 abstained. 6 Conservative MPs also voted against it. 28 Lib Dem MPS voted for the plans. The protests and in particular the attack on Charleshave of course overshadowed this. This Daily Mail article has plenty of dramatic photos. Michael White in the Guardian has some good points to make about how the violence has become the main focus for the media. Benedict Brogan in the Telegraph comments on how Cameron and Clegg are handling the crisis, and here is the New York Times' view to put things into perspective. What are your views?

No more broken promises Nick?

Video from the National Union of Students.  Hat tip Labourlist

Update: even more hypocrisy - check out stroppy