Crunch Lib Dem MPs’ meeting
It’s a “defining moment,” one Lib Dem MP said. Another one called it: “Certainy the most important meeting of Lib Dem MPs since the one that agreed to go into Coalition”.
Tuition Fees has been the biggest policy clash waiting to happen and tonight Vince Cable is speaking to a room of his backbench and ministerial colleagues trying to make sure it doesn’t.
“There’s a huge managerial issue here,” a senior Lib Dem MP told me, “because as things stand we could end up with Lib Dems going in the ‘Yes’ lobby, the ‘No’ lobby and no lobby at all.”
It would look awful and they know it. The senior Lib Dems in government decided some time ago they had to try to get a deal they could vote for and not just slip into an abstention – having the Secretary of State responsible for universities (Vince Cable) not able to support a huge government reform of university funding would be too embarrassing.
The tactic for the rebels tonight was to try to combat the sense of inevitability the leadership is trying to build round the reform. They wanted to give a sense to Lib Dems that raising tuition fees can be fought.
Will try to update later on how this went but Lib Dem meetings can be a little more democratic/verbose than some other parties.
Just down the corridor there’s been applause for Ed Miliband addressing his first PLP as leader.
He told the MPs there must be constructive opposition, they mustn’t say stuff they’d regret in the General Election. And he’ll be trying to prove that point tomorrow by attending a presentation by Lord Browne on his proposed reforms in the Prime Minister’s Commons office, side by side with the PM, the DPM and Vince Cable.
No guarantee he’ll walk by on the other side of road and miss this opportunity to create mayhem in the Coalition, but Ed Miliband has assured Lord Browne that he will give his proposals a fair hearing.
Update: Meeting still not over but I can tell you from sources in the room that there have been 4 or 5 hostile voices raised. Vince Cable is taking the standard safety procedure of calling questions in groups of 4 to avoid direct conflict. The majority party in the room, I am told, is undecided.
Vince Cable told his MPs that concessions got out of the Tories, in particular adding a variable more punitive rate of debt interest for higher earners (going beyond the Browne report) must be good because the Tories hated conceding them.
Funny business coalition. It is still possible that the Lib Dems could fracture badly over this vote – due in 6 weeks’ time according to Vince Cable – going in 3 different dircetions on the vote.
Interestingly, the Tories are now getting a briefing from David Willetts in the next door room. He’ll have an easier – but far from easy – time in Committee Room 11.