Workers' Liberty

As university bosses call for higher tuition fees and smaller grants, the Liberal Democrats are quite transparently preparing to ditch their policy of abolishing fees.

Following widespread media speculation, Nick Clegg told the first day of the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth that, while he opposes tuition fees, it is necessary to be "realistic". "But I can make this pledge – at the next election we will have the best, most progressive package for students of any mainstream party."

Given that both the Labour government and the Tories are committed to a deregulated system of fees in higher education, that is not claiming very much!

Many students are attracted to the Lib Dems; in a number of cities, Cardiff, Cambridge and Sheffield for instance, they have provided the party with its margins of victory. The reason is a more general disillusionment with Labour and the Tories, and the appeal of the Lib Dems' marginally more enlightened policies on issue like asylum and civil liberties. The question of fees has also played a role.

Now the Lib Dems are preparing to drop the policy, as part of their call for what Nick Clegg openly admits would be "savage cuts" in public spending.

The Liberal Democrat policy was never 'free education' in the sense that we mean it - at various points they have proposed some variant of a graduate tax, and they have never supported a universal, living student grant.

In any case, there is a more general problem. Even before their current shift to the right, the Lib Dems were what they always have been - a right-wing, capitalist party.

As part of its "savage cuts", their leadership is now advocating a freeze on public sector workers' pay, slashing public sector pensions and means-testing child benefit. They also advocate stronger anti-union laws, including powers for the government to declare a strike "against the national interest" and ban it.

The record of Lib Dem councils across the country is exemplified by Leeds, where the Lib Dem-led coalition privatised the city aiport and is currently seeking to push through cuts of up to a third in bin workers' pay.

Even in today's heavily bureaucratised, right-wing Labour Party, there is still a left wing which supports free education. MPs like John McDonnell have a left-wing position on this and many other issues, from taxing the rich to trade union rights. No such wing exists in the Lib Dems. The standard bearer of the party’s “left”, Simon Hughes, boasted during the London mayoral election that if elected he would “sort out” the Tube union RMT.

And of course, despite whispered protests from a few of their activists, the Lib Dems are squarely part of the right-wing - anti-free education, pro-”reform” (ie anti-democracy) - bloc in NUS.

No wonder David Cameron says that there is only a cigarette paper between the two parties. The Lib Dems are clearly a potential coalition partner for the next Conservative government.

We have always and will continue to warn students against any support and trust in capitalist parties like the Lib Dems. Only the labour movement is a reliable ally in our struggle for free education.

Thanks to Education Not for Sale. We have amended this article slightly from the version on the ENS site.