11 March 2010
Newport
15 November 2009
News Editor
If Wes Streeting was truly the voice of students as he raged on about changing the tuition fees structure for the past few months then he went a long way to destroying that image yesterday when, in an open letter to publications (both student and national), he urged the near 2 million HE students he represents to vote for alternative candidates in the General Election if their local MP thinks raising fees is a good idea.
I, amongst many other students, disagree with the idea of raising tuition fees past their current £3,000+ interest cap, I also back the NUS ‘Blueprint’ which outlines plans for a graduate tax ‘that’s not a graduate tax’ but I also believe that the election to decide which party will govern Great Britain for the next 4 to 5 years should hinge on more than just their views (or lack of them) regarding tuition fees – the future of education in general, their vision of the NHS or their plans to cut national debt perhaps?
Obviously Mr. Streeting has a job to do and up until now he was, in my humble opinion, doing fairly well. The ‘Blueprint’ is a well thought out, genuine alternative proposal to way Higher Education in Britain could be funded for the next 20-30 years, by freeing up the pathway to education and linking the money paid back into the system to the financial benefits gained from graduating from it would actually increase funding for HE institutions in the long run and continue to widen participation when most agree raising fees would do the opposite. Streeting is also right to flag up what he calls the ‘cosy consensus of silence’. The two major parties (Labour & the Tories) have managed to conviniently keep the politically sticky issue of financing the Higher Education of the next generation of students off the agenda pre-Election – neither side wants to rile middle England nor (and Streeting would do well to remember this) to a much lesser extent the current student population.
I’m delighted Wes Streeting wants to mobilise the students of this country, too often we hear of a low turnout in the 18-25 demographic, the people who’s futures are perhaps most affected by the changes the government, whichever party it may be, will implement but to do so on the back of such a one-dimensional viewpoint is frankly pathetic. Streeting, who its no secret looks towards politics as a career once his two-year tenure as President of the NUS ends in June, should know better - I wonder how long into his political career it will be before this incident comes back to haunt him? Students need to be told the manifesto pledges of the parties running for election and NUS should facilitate this in helping publicising where students can access the material. Students also need to know who is running to be their MP again NUS should be supporting Union’s in encouraging local candidates to come onto campuses and speak to students and of course NUS should be doing all it can to ensure all who can are registered to vote in at least one of their university or home constituency.
NUS should indeed be fighting to bring the tuition fees debate to the agenda but not through blacklisting and blackmailing, no one – students, universities and certaintly not MPs will appreciate these tactics. I honestly hope Streeting can convince ministers to look at the graduate tax proposal NUS have brough to the table but I fear he has hammered a rather large nail into the coffin of ‘The Blueprint’ before it even gets discussed.
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The latest outburst from the NUS President suggests a deeply flawed policy
