Local MP's opposition to higher education fees increase thwarted

The coalition government won a narrow 21-vote victory despite a backbench rebellion by Lib-Dem and some Conservative MPs. The bill sought to raise the cap of university tuition fees to £9,000, prompting large public protests from current university and college students. Local MP Jeremy Corbyn voted against the bill after a longstanding campaign against rising fees.

Anti-fees protesters have contended that the threefold increase in tuition fees will deter students from poorer backgrounds from applying to university, making higher education the preserve of a social, rather than an academic elite. 28 Lib Dem MPs voted for the bill, and 21 voted against, as did six Conservative backbenchers. Eight Lib Dem MPs abstained from the vote.

Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn has been a vehement opposer of any rise in tuition fees, speaking at public demonstrations and university occupations and Tweeting his support to student protesters. Corbyn called the fee proposals "illegitimate and reactionary" and repeatedly called for "real access to higher education for all".

Hornsey and Wood Green MP Lynne Featherstone signed a pledge prior to the May elections promising to oppose any increase in tuition fees. Featherstone became a target for groups from the National Union of Students after the MP entered government and was expected to vote in line with the party rather than resign her junior ministership. The NUS Women's campaign organised a protest outside Featherstone's offices in Wood Green this week, and another is taking place in Crouch End today.

Featherstone was said to be "distraught" after the vote, and apologises today on her blog. "For someone like me – who has always believed that education should be free – it has been a difficult decision," she writes. "On breaking the NUS pledge – I can only apologise. However, for me, that pledge was super-ceded by my signing up to the coalition agreement and although the coalition agreement allowed for abstention – for me that would have felt like opting out of making a very important decision."

 A revised loan system and the new fees mean that graduates are predicted to finish a three-year Batchelor's course £38,000 in debt on average, and the The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that students will need to earn an average of £48,850 a year for 26 years to pay off student debt.

 Image: David Chief