Tuition Fees

The Lib Dems' East Midlands Regional Conference discussed university tuition fees on 30 October, and the following motion as proposed by myself (Sam Boote, parliamentary spokesman for Rushcliffe)and amended by Daniel Jones was debated:

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Conference deplores the decision of the Business Secretary and of the Coalition Government to allow tuition fees to rise and calls on the Deputy Prime Minister and his Liberal Democrat colleagues in the Cabinet to honour the pledge in the election manifesto of May 2010 to scrap university tuition fees for all students taking their first degree including those studying part-time (saving them over £10,000 each) and immediately to scrap fees for final year students.

Conference also calls upon the Coalition Government to re-examine the Dearing Report, which identified three beneficiaries of a university education (the student, the state and business), and to ensure that all beneficiaries are paying their fair share. In doing this, the Coalition Government must ensure that graduates and prospective undergraduates, especially the poorest, are not disadvantaged or dissuaded from achieving their degree.

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The motion was carried by a large majority.

I have written to Nick Clegg, Vince Cable and Simon Hughes to inform them of the text of the motion and the outcome of the debate, and I have requested them to give urgent consideration to amending the party's policy to take account of the strong feelings being expressed by party members and by the public on this extremely important matter of our commitment to abolish tuition fees.

Sam.

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Sam Boote, 17 Rannock Gardens, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5FQ

tel. 0115 937 4644 (home) 07712 890173 (mobile)

e-mail: s.boote@bcs.org web: www.samboote.org.uk