Some Lib Dems voted for, some against and some abstained. The manifesto/mandate theory that has bound British politics for generations was effectively shot out of the water. Coalition government ultimately did for it. 21 Lib Dems felt they owed greater loyality to the Coalition than to the pledge they signed before the election. In May they were the only major party that claimed they were anti-fees, no longer they cornered the student vote. In seats such as Norwich south, a four way marginal, it could be argued it was the deciding factor.
The media focussed not surprisingly on the violence that erupted after the vote was announced. Personally a campaign of NVDA would have been strategically better but students are young, frustration and emotions run high and NVDA requires self discipline.
Whether the public lose sympathy with the students is open to debate, based on TV programmes last night , public opinion is split. The funding of higher education deserves a more serious debate and the events in London deflected from the debate. The Green Party can now say that they are the only party that supports universal free education, they support the proposal to fund it from business taxation. This policy needs selling, as mixed with the campaign against tax avoidance it can put the spotlight on the fact that if everybody paid their taxes as those who are on PAYE have to do, there would be no shortage of funds for higher education.
The fall guy in all this is Business Secretary, Vince Cable. The Lib Dem doing the dirty work for the Tories. The one time St Vince, said he was proud of the policy. I doubt many share his emotion today. politics is about perception and at the moment the perception is that this government is hitting those who can least afford it hardest, while their fat cat friends barely suffer.
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