We are all keenly aware of the recent student protests. The media seem to be sticking to 2 specific areas, firstly that the Lib Dems were going to abolish fees, and secondly that whilst they are no longer abolishing them, in fact they are massively increasing them, but that the new system will mean that Students pay nothing up front, and will only start paying back once they start to earn £21k or more a year.
Clegg has made much of the fact that as he is not in Government, and that compromise had to be made, which in isolation is probably fair enough. However, the point that has been completely ignored by the media is simple. The Lib Dems had agreed to drop their fee abolishment 2 months prior to the General Election. Thus they knowingly sought the student vote on the basis of a policy which they had already abandoned. I can assure you that they would have seen far less votes in the General Election had they been honest about this. In fact for many students this was the only reason that they voted for the Lib Dems.
Recently an MP was kicked out for telling lies about his opponent in the election campaign. Well what were the Lib Dems doing if not the same thing. Maybe they were not telling lies about other candidates, but they were clearly lying about one of their key policies.
The media must have seen this and yet the seem incapable of taking the Lib Dems to task. Why do you think that is?
Hi Shortie,
Actually I am 51 years old, and I totally agree that manifesto promises are hardly worth the paper they are written on in many cases. This point however is that they had in fact dropped the zero fee pledge 2 Months prior to the election and as such were deliberately keeping up the idea that the policy stood so as to get Student votes right up until the election. Surely this was as misleading as the leaflets that lead to the MP being kicked out. The media have not highlighted this and I think that they should.
Hi Confused Hal,
Niceley put, I think that your main point is spot on. I still feel that if nothing else this matter should be the focus of some serious questions for the Lib Dems, especially as they have a few years to try and make amends for this and could potentially not worry about the next student vote as the new policy will by then be the status quo and may not have the impact that it is having today.
Clegg has made much of the fact that as he is not in Government, and that compromise had to be made, which in isolation is probably fair enough. However, the point that has been completely ignored by the media is simple. The Lib Dems had agreed to drop their fee abolishment 2 months prior to the General Election. Thus they knowingly sought the student vote on the basis of a policy which they had already abandoned. I can assure you that they would have seen far less votes in the General Election had they been honest about this. In fact for many students this was the only reason that they voted for the Lib Dems.
Recently an MP was kicked out for telling lies about his opponent in the election campaign. Well what were the Lib Dems doing if not the same thing. Maybe they were not telling lies about other candidates, but they were clearly lying about one of their key policies.
The media must have seen this and yet the seem incapable of taking the Lib Dems to task. Why do you think that is?
Hi Shortie,
Actually I am 51 years old, and I totally agree that manifesto promises are hardly worth the paper they are written on in many cases. This point however is that they had in fact dropped the zero fee pledge 2 Months prior to the election and as such were deliberately keeping up the idea that the policy stood so as to get Student votes right up until the election. Surely this was as misleading as the leaflets that lead to the MP being kicked out. The media have not highlighted this and I think that they should.
Hi Confused Hal,
Niceley put, I think that your main point is spot on. I still feel that if nothing else this matter should be the focus of some serious questions for the Lib Dems, especially as they have a few years to try and make amends for this and could potentially not worry about the next student vote as the new policy will by then be the status quo and may not have the impact that it is having today.