Aftermath: Tuition fee fallout continues
Police, students and the Liberal Democrats are taking stock after Wednesday’s tuition fees protests, as the political fallout from the demonstration continues to gather momentum.
This weekend has seen attention focus on the coalition government’s junior party after 52,000 students voiced their anger with the Lib Dems’ decision to abandon their pre-election pledge to oppose increases in tuition fees.
Comment: On the front line with student protestors
Yesterday a Conservative MP’s book on the formation of the coalition revealed details of the Lib Dems’ pre-election planning for a hung parliament scenario. They showed that the party were prepared to jettison their tuition fees “headache”.
In a statement the Lib Dems said the extracts which had been mentioned were part of planning for a “range of options” being considered.
Lib Dems plotted tuition fees U-turn before general election
Now the NUS are planning their own retribution for the Lib Dems’ decision.
President Aaron Porter told the Observer newspaper he hopes to “undermine” the coalition’s “wafer-thin mandate” on cuts to higher education funding and on tuition fees by campaigning against Lib Dem MPs in seats where the party relies on a large number of student votes.
This affects a number of seats, including that of Bristol West MP Stephen Williams, Bath MP Don Foster, Cambridge MP Julian Huppert and, crucially, the party’s leader Nick Clegg.
Tuition fee ‘decapitation’ plan against Lib Dems
There are signs the party has been deeply shaken by the ongoing tuition fees controversy.
A little-publicised election campaign between its left and right wings for the party presidency saw tuition fees rebel Tim Farron beat former London mayoral candidate Susan Kramer to the job yesterday.
Tuition fees rebel elected Lib Dem president
The NUS’ protest has been overshadowed by media coverage of the violence outside Conservative campaign headquarters in Millbank, however.
Police are continuing to investigate the case and arrested three more people on Friday and Saturday, following the initial 54 arrests.
One of these was related to the much-covered incident in which one person threw a fire extinguisher off the roof of 30 Millbank into the crowd of protestors and police below.
No-one was hurt in that incident, although 41 police officers were hurt in total on Wednesday.
Arrest count reaches 57 after tuition fees protest
Police are conducting an internal inquiry as to why so few police officers were initially on hand at 30 Millbank.
The Met originally deployed 225 officers to the protest. When the scale of the demonstration became clear, a further 225 officers joined them.
