Tuition fees: Cable says ‘I’ll support rise’
Liberal Democrat Cabinet Ministers are set to support the Government’s plan to raise university tuition fees after Business Secretary Vince Cable says he is “collectively responsible” for the policy.
The Commons vote to allow universities to charge up to £9,000 a year in fees – set for next Thursday – has posed a dilemma for Lib Dem MPs, who signed a pre-election pledge drawn up by the National Union of Students, to oppose any increase.
The Coalition Agreement signed with the Conservatives gave the 57 Lib Dem MPs the right to abstain on any such vote, but a series of meetings of the Parliamentary party have so far failed to settle a voting strategy and earlier in the week Mr Cable had suggested he would abstain.
“Obviously I have a duty as a minister to vote for my own policy – and that is what will happen.” Business Secretary Vince Cable
But in an interview with his local paper – the Richmond and Twickenham Times – today, Mr Cable said he had “reconsidered” his decision.
“Obviously I have a duty as a minister to vote for my own policy – and that is what will happen,” he said.
“There is a dilemma. I’m very clear I regard the policy as right and as a member of the Cabinet I am collectively responsible for the policy. There is no doubt that is what I should do.”
Our Political Correspondent, Cathy Newman, has been told by Lib Dem sources that the party’s Cabinet Ministers are now set to join Mr Cable, making it likely that the Government will achieve a majority.
Cabinet Ministers
The party has five Cabinet Ministers – Mr Cable, the party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the Energy Secretary, Chris Huhne, the Chief Treasury Secretary, Danny Alexander, and the Scottish Secretary, Michael Moore – although, as the policy will not apply to Scottish Universities, it is not yet clear whether he will be required to vote.
Some backbenchers seem certain to vote against the policy, however, while others will abstain – and it is not yet clear what Junior Ministers and Parliamentary Private Secretaries (ministerial aides) will do.
The policy has sparked a series of student protests across the country and the Liberal Democrats have postponed a planned regional conference in London this weekend over fears that more than a thousand demonstrators would descend on the event.
A Liberal Democrat spokesman said tonight that no decision had yet been made on how the party’s MPs should vote next Thursday. The parliamentary party will have its regular weekly meeting on Tuesday, but it is feared that a collective decision will not even be reached then.