The Labour Party and tuition fees

Do you think Labour would've raised tuition fees in 2010?


  • Total voters
    32
Maybe this should go in Chat, but as it's (albeit fairly recent) British political history I thought I'd ask here. Do members think that, had Labour held onto power in 2010 in coalition with the Lib Dems (and perhaps others) the findings of the Browne report into tuition fees would've been accepted? Just what would the Lib/Lab coalition have done about the issue?
 
Yes, they would have. They conveniently changed their position after the election. I'm not saying this as a cynic critic of Labour, but as a party member. We always preferred tuition fee rises, something we're "committed" to capping at £6k; not sure of the real difference between £6k and £9k but ah well.
 
Yes, they would have. They conveniently changed their position after the election. I'm not saying this as a cynic critic of Labour, but as a party member. We always preferred tuition fee rises, something we're "committed" to capping at £6k; not sure of the real difference between £6k and £9k but ah well.

That surprises me somewhat- I'm yet to meet any Labour Party member who believes the party would've raised fees.
 

AndyC

Donor
Well, yeah. They handpicked the members of the Browne Review, set up the terms of reference and made an agreement with the Tories to largely abide with the outcome of it.

The difference in amount of fees that they claim they'd have supported is up to debate (it's interesting that the position is for a fee exactly half way between the one beforehand and the one afterwards), but the total debt burden would have been less of a difference: maintenance loan of c£6k plus fees of c. £6k times three = £36k vice £45k for a three year course.
(People tend to forget in these debates that the maintenance loan has to be paid back as well)
 
In England certainly. If they were part of the Scottish Government then no as it was the origional Lab/Lib coalition that brought it in and abolishing free fees would be electoral suicide. The fee loan for Scottish resident students going South would have still gone up, however.
 
And, okay, as a second question- with Labour and the Lib Dems having raised tuition fees in 2010, where does the student vote turn to? I'd be stunned if it goes to the Conservatives, who I guess would largely support the Browne report albeit with some typical Opposition populist carping, so, where? The Greens?
 

AndyC

Donor
And, okay, as a second question- with Labour and the Lib Dems having raised tuition fees in 2010, where does the student vote turn to? I'd be stunned if it goes to the Conservatives, who I guess would largely support the Browne report albeit with some typical Opposition populist carping, so, where? The Greens?

Labour.
They got away with it twice before; why not a third time?
 
And, okay, as a second question- with Labour and the Lib Dems having raised tuition fees in 2010, where does the student vote turn to? I'd be stunned if it goes to the Conservatives, who I guess would largely support the Browne report albeit with some typical Opposition populist carping, so, where? The Greens?

Most of it will stick with Labour and the Lib Dems, in England at least. The Tories aren't an option, in fact the Coalition would probably benefit from pointing to the Opposition and going "we're doing what's necessary, even though we don't like it, whereas that mob would do it anyway, with glee". The Greens just don't have the resources.
 

Thande

Donor
Yes, they would have. They conveniently changed their position after the election. I'm not saying this as a cynic critic of Labour, but as a party member. We always preferred tuition fee rises, something we're "committed" to capping at £6k; not sure of the real difference between £6k and £9k but ah well.

I suspect Labour would have made the same error as the Tories of using that stupid system (see also Thatcher's community charge and Brown's tax credits) of "We charge everyone a big flat rate and then poorer people get a rebate so it's fair" which guarantees that no-one will ever hear the second part and the media will go into a feeding frenzy. The Lib Dems might actually have been hurt worse than OTL if this was a Lib-Lab coalition, as the key points in their mythology in the Noughties was "oppose Labour on Iraq and oppose Labour on tuition fees"; giving in on tuition fees to the Tories was bad enough, but giving in on tuition fees to Labour would feel like even more of a surrender.
 
Top