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LRC voices as Parliament votes to trebles university fees

11th December 2010

On Thursday 9 December Parliament voted to treble university tuition fees. Outside 30,000 students and their supporters protested for free education. Below is how LRC members, in Parliament and in Parliament Square, reacted.
John McDonnell MP spoke at the demo at Malet Street, before tweeting from inside the Commons:

“Don’t ever forget this day. It is the day education became no longer a right but a commodity to be bought and sold.

“The fight against cuts in education and tuition fees doesn’t end here. This is just the beginning. Solidarity”

Jeremy Corbyn MP, spoke in the debate (full speech here). He said:

“The Secretary of State should be utterly ashamed of himself, because in effect the Government are reducing to 40% the level of funding for universities, increasing the privatisation of universities and courses, and ending academic independence. We need to tax the wealthy. We do not need a graduate tax or an increase in income tax to pay for it. Some £6 billion has not been collected from Vodafone thanks to a cosy deal with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. That is actually more than the total amount paid through tuition fees over the past year.

“I signed a pledge not to vote for a fees increase, I voted against the fees increase in 2004 and I voted against the introduction of fees in 1998. Liberal Democrats were on the same ticket at the time-hon. Members should stand up for what they believe in and vote no.”

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Read reports from LRC members of the protest here, here and here.