NUS have welcomed that most unlikely of allies, the Tories, after they announced they would scrap tuition fees, with National Secretary Penny Hollings saying
"Abolishing tuition fees removes a financial barrier that deters many from going to university and that can only be a good thing. The Conservative party has correctly identified just how unpopular tuition fees have been and the catastrophic effect that top-up fees would have."
How to respond to the tories saying something nice
By Chris Neville-Smith
Labour Students have had a rather easy ride for years because, quite frankly, over most of the last twenty years, the Conservatives have done a pretty good job of making themselves unpopular with students. No matter how anti-student the Labour Party's policies were getting, Labour Students have always been able to fall back: "Yes, but the Conservatives are worse." This has also been popular with much of the traditionally anti-Tory far-left. And now, all of a sudden, Labour Students have a problem: they can no longer do this. The Conservatives have finally got round to clamping down on the idiots in their party who spout racist drivel, and they are now at least claiming they can offer a deal which is better than what Labour proposes to do.
Now, perhaps I'm being hopelessly optimisitic here, but I'd have thought the happiest ending to this little development is that Tony Blair realises that 3K tuition fees are going to be a big vote-loser (IDS certainly thinks so if he's given the issue that much prominence), and he drops the proposals quietly, and everybody lives happily ever after. Unfortunately, there seems to be a push to make sure that everything the Tories suggest is bad, which seems to be focusing on the following two arguments:
1) The proposals are a bad thing because the money will come from dropping the 50% target, meaning that there will be less students. Well, I can see why people are keen on getting more students into HE, but after NUS has run an anti-tution fees campaign for the last five years as its highest priority campaign, are people now suggesting that actually, we'd rather have 20K tution fees than a cap on student numbers? I'm not sure whether or not we need an access regulator, but hasn't it occurred to anyone that 20K tution fees might be one of the reasons why young people from poorer backgrounds aren't going to University? Contrary to what some people seem to think, "more" does not necessarily mean "more diverse".
2) The proposals are a bad thing because the Tories haven't said where the money's coming from. Now I'm confused. For the last five years, Tony Blair has been arguing that tuition fees are necessary because it's the only way you can get the money, and students have been counter-arguing this by saying where the money could be found from. Now, all of a sudden, the same people seem to be saying "Ah, but where is the money going to come from?" as if the answer can only be that the money can't be found. If the money can't be found, what the hell have we been campaiging for all of this time? Sure, challenge the Conservatives to show exactly where the money is going to come from, but do it with the intention of getting them to form a credible proposal rather than dismissing every idea. (The 1.6 billion excess in the DfES might be a good place to start.) Yes, I know the Tories are unlikely to get the money from taxing the rich and big business and not fighting any wars, but surely scrapping fees is a good thing in its own right?
I am still sceptical about this accouncement and there will be many other factors to influence my vote, but it seems to me that the only way you can justify dismissing the proposals outright is if you're more anti-tories than anti-fees. Whatever you think of the political parties overall, this could be the biggest bargaining tool we'll get, and I don't want to pass this up. We should be pressing for all parties to offer the best possible deal, and not try to stop the "wrong" party offering a better deal than the "right" one.
BBC, The Conservatives' figures for scrapping tuition fees are being challenged.
BBC, Tories say 'scrap tuition fees'
BBC, Students welcome Tories' fees plan
