Clegg plotted to ditch tuition fees pledge: Lib Dems in deal to renege on vow to students MONTHS before election
By Tim Shipman
Last updated at 4:12 AM on 13th November 2010
What promise? Nick Clegg, seen on Wednesday defending his decision to turn his back on his party's pledge
Nick Clegg was secretly plotting to ditch his pledge to axe tuition fees two months before the election, it was revealed last night.
In a grave embarrassment for the Deputy Prime Minister, secret papers have revealed that the Liberal Democrats drew up plans to abandon the pledge even as they were publicly promising university students they would oppose fees.
On March 16, a secret Lib Dem team set up to prepare for a possible coalition government decided to ditch the policy.
But a month later, Mr Clegg publicly denounced the ‘dead weight of debt’ facing students and publicly signed a pledge to oppose any increase in tuition fees. Every one of his party colleagues also signed the pledge.
The revelations that senior Lib Dems were engaged in a calculated act of duplicity will fuel the anger of students already furious at what they see as the betrayal of the party’s election pledge.
Vince Cable helped draw up plans that will see the cap on tuition fees treble from £3,000 to £9,000 – saddling future generations of students with £27,000 of debts.
The March document, drawn up by Danny Alexander – now the Chief Secretary to the Treasury – says: ‘On tuition fees, we should seek agreement on part-time students and leave the rest.
'We will have clear yellow water with the other [parties] on raising the tuition fee cap, so let us not cause ourselves more headaches.’
Mr Clegg admitted this week that he ‘should have been more careful’ when he signed the pre-election pledge to oppose a rise in tuition fees.
The secret internal document is in a new book on the coalition negotiations by Tory MP Rob Wilson, who interviewed 60 key figures in the negotiations.
It reveals that the Lib Dems also abandoned their election pledges to oppose a VAT rise and cuts this year after George Osborne convinced them the state of the economy was ‘quite horrific’.
Mr Clegg decided to throw his lot in with the Tories after Chris Huhne, another member of his four-strong negotiating team, warned that a minority Tory government propped up by the Lib Dems would not be able to take the necessary steps on the deficit – potentially leaving both parties to be punished by the electorate.
Fury: Demonstrators' anger over the decision to cap tuition fees at £9,000
‘Financial crises are catastrophic for the political parties that are blamed, and we should avoid this at all costs,’ he wrote.
The book also reveals the lengths that Gordon Brown went to woo the Lib Dems.
The former prime minister offered them half the seats in a Lib-Lab government and said Mr Clegg could run European policy.
A Lib Dem spokesman said: ‘These are selective extracts of documents which discussed a range of options ahead of any possible negotiations.
‘As the Liberal Democrats made clear throughout the election and in negotiations, they had four key priorities which were set out on the front page of the
manifesto. All of these priorities were agreed in the coalition document.
‘The nature of the coalition agreement has meant we were able to set the foundations for a stable five-year government that will deliver many of the priorities the Liberal Democrats have long supported.’
![Kay Jordan marched in Hanbury Street, Princelet street on 17 January 2006 [pictured below]](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dWmk2LlYKZk/TSPzlCUEKNI/AAAAAAAAALk/oUuVMsb0aIw/S760/KHOODEELAAR%2521%2BNo%2Bto%2BCrossrail%2BHole%252C%2BDemo%2Bin%2BHanbury%252C%2BSpelman%252C%2BPrincelet%2BStreets%2Band%2BBrick%2BLane%2BLondon%2BE1%2B17%2BJanuary%2B2006.jpeg)
If you want proof that politicians are two faced liars, here it is. As Big Chief Sitting Bull used to say, "White man speaks with forked tongue".
- "we're all in this together", cloud cuckoo land, 13/11/2010 14:47
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