The Age of Austerity: Tuition Fee hikes

by Abby Chau

All the players took their places yesterday when the tuition fee vote came to pass by a margin of 21 votes. Mild mannered middle class students wore their top-shop best whilst denouncing the proposal as unfair against the poor. Multi-tasking protestors urinated on Churchill’s statue and defaced buildings whilst still finding the time to give Prince Charles and Camilla a fright. Politicians put on grave faces as they proclaimed that sacrifices were necessary in this age of austerity. The Met synchronised their best kettling positions.

In the end the higher education reform proposals passed by a vote of 323 to 302 to raise the tuition fee cap to £9,000. How the Lib Dems will fare after this debacle will be linked directly to how many progressive initiatives they will be able to squeeze out of this coalition.

The proposal will go to the House of Lords next Tuesday for one last scrutiny but it’s safe to say that it will pass. The full impact of the reforms will not be exposed, however, until the government publishes their higher education white paper early next year. Some are saying that the tuition fee protests will galvanise the left, giving them momentum to fight privatisation. Aaron Porter, the NUS President, proclaims that the fight will go on.

Nick Clegg was compared to President Obama during the election and for the first time perhaps one can actually draw similarities. Both have severely let down their electorate for reasons out of their control while more sinister forces strangling the government ride unnoticed in their gilded chariots.