Tag Archive for Lib Dems

Labour’s hypocritical tuition fees attack on the Lib Dems

May 7, 2014 Education, Labour, Lib Dems 4 comments

Nick Clegg Pledge to oppose university taxThe Labour Party are asking people to share a poster on Facebook attacking the Lib Dems over their broken promise on tuition fees.

The Lib Dem manifesto for the last election promised to vote against any increase in Labour’s university tax and Nick Clegg even posed with a giant pledge card saying he would vote against it and pressure the British government for a fairer alternative. Once elected he voted to increase Labour’s university tax from £3k a year to £9k a year.

That Nick Clegg is a weak, dishonest politician goes without saying but people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones and Labour really have scored an own goal with this one. Labour contested the 2001 election saying they wouldn’t introduce the university tax and had legislated to prevent it. Like the legislation Conservative supporters are currently clinging to for dear life that David Cameron has told them “guarantees” an EU referendum in 2017, the legislation preventing the introduction of the university tax was utterly worthless and shortly after they repealed it and introduced tuition fees of up to £3k in England.

The English university tax was imposed on England against the wishes of our democratically elected representatives. Since the introduction of devolved government in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the British government only had control of education in England so in any real democracy, only MPs elected in England should have voted on the introduction of the university tax but Labour whipped their Scottish MPs to vote it through and overturned a small majority of MPs elected in England who voted against it.

We wouldn’t have the university tax in England at all if it wasn’t for Labour’s broken promise not to introduce it and Labour’s undemocratic use of their Scottish MPs to impose legislation on England that a majority of MPs elected in England voted against. Using the Lib Dems’ broken promises on the the university tax that Labour broke a promise and broke one of the most fundamental democratic principals to introduce is frankly hypocritical and I hope that it blows up in their faces.

Snigger

December 2, 2012 Funny, Lib Dems, Tweet 2 comments

Cleggy says discrimination against English students is right

April 30, 2011 Apartheid, Education, Lib Dems 6 comments

Nick Clegg has told the Daily Telegraph that it is right English students should have to pay up to £9k per year to go to university while Scottish students should study for free.

He said that under devolution it is right that there should be differences in the two nations and he’s absolutely right – the whole point of devolution is that we have different needs and priorities but the problem is that we don’t have devolution, Scotland does. The master of hypocrisy said:

There’s no point in having devolution if you don’t have devolved and different policy outcomes and that’s precisely what we have in higher education.

You either believe in the Scottish nation, as I do, and that you have Scottish solutions to Scottish issues or you don’t.

We believe that it is quite right, as longstanding supporters of proper devolution and indeed further devolution, that you have different solutions in different parts of the country.

Interesting choice of words from Cleggover – he believes in the Scottish nation and Scottish solutions to Scottish issues but he believes in the break-up of the English nation and British solutions for English issues.

I’ve sent the following email to his office:

In yesterday’s Daily Telegraph you are quoted as saying “You either believe in the Scottish nation, as I do, and that you have Scottish solutions to Scottish issues or you don’t”.

Do you believe in the English nation? Why do you campaign for the break-up of England into regions we don’t want?

Why do you believe that you should have Scottish solutions to Scottish issues but British solutions to English issues? Why do you believe that British MPs elected in Scotland, Wales & NI should vote for increased tuition fees in England but tuition fees in Scotland should be decided by members of the Scottish Parliament?

7 out of 10 people want to either stop MPs not elected in England from meddling in English affairs or a devolved English Parliament. Why do you believe they shouldn’t have what they want but the Scots, Welsh & Northern Irish should have just that? It seems to me the Liberal Democrats should be renamed the Illiberal Hypocrites because you are neither liberal nor democrats.

Click here to contact Cleggy.

Election Prediction

May 3, 2010 Labour, Lib Dems, Tories, UKIP 13 comments

The election is almost upon us and it’s time for a prediction I think: Nick Clegg will be Prime Minister.

Now, don’t get any silly ideas about the Lib Dems winning the election because they won’t.  The Tories will win the election with most seats but they won’t have a working majority and Cameron would rather go without than share power.  The newspaper ads and constant talk about how terrible a hung parliament would be confirm that Cameron is out for absolute power and nothing less.

There will be no shortage of offers to form a coalition with Cast Iron Dave but they will be rebuffed.  The party faithful will be told that it’s better to let a LibLab coalition limp along for a few months before collapsing and then the Tories can romp home to victory in a snap election.  Most of them will fall for it of course and those that don’t will accept it for the greater good.

So that just leaves the Lib Dems and Labour.  The Lib Dems will come second on Thursday, relegating Labour to third place.  Clegg will want a coalition of the left which rules out the Tories and whilst the SNP and Plaid will make gains at the election (the former more so than the latter) they won’t have enough lobby fodder for Clegg to see off the Tories so it will be a LibLab coalition with Clegg as Prime Minister.

Whether El Gordo will manage to cling on as leader after the election remains to be seen.  Mandelson is already leader in all but name and I expect him to take over the reins from El Gordo at some point after the election.  Clegg says he won’t work with Brown but once he smells victory he’ll soon change his tune.

And what about the non-LibLabCon/celtic nationalists?  Well, UKIP will come out with a handful of MPs – I think between three and five.  The BNP will retain some deposits but they won’t win and seats.  The English Democrats will spring a few surprises but won’t win any seats.  The Greens will come worryingly close to winning a seat but won’t quite make it.