9th June 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Sir Menzies Campbell has said that he’s likely to vote against any proposed rise in university tuition fees. In a report on the BBC website Sir Campbell has said that not increasing the current £3,225 a year cap on tuition fees in England was one of his party’s main election pledges, and that he would not vote for an increase because of the coalition government.
The Liberal Democrat MPs have been given the freedom to abstain on certain issues in parliament because they go against pledges made by the Lib-Dems before the election. One of these such pledges was not only to not increase in tuition fees, but to actually phase them out eventually.
Some universities have said that the increase in tuition fees is necessary to allow them to compete properly with their international counterparts, and that raising the cap to £6,000 would go a long way to achieving this. However, Menzies Campbell is Chancellor of St. Andrews University, and has signed a pledge to oppose this increase. He said that he would find it very difficult to support the proposal, and moreover, would find it difficult not to vote against it, and simply abstain.