A PLAN to increase tuition fees to a possible £27,000 for a three-year course were slammed by Ellesmere Port’s MP.
Andrew Miller, MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston, has asked: “How can the Liberal Democrat Party hold their heads up?” after they dramatically went back on a pre-election promise to oppose any increase.
The University Minister, David Willets MP announced that the new tuition fees will be up to £9,000 per year.
Mr Miller said: “We knew that the Conservatives would be happy to put these costs onto the shoulders of our young people but before the General Election, the Lib Dem candidates all signed pledges not to vote for any increase in tuition fees.
“Nick Clegg used this as one of their main campaign points, he and his MPs, with the notable exception of Charles Kennedy and Menzies Campbell, are happy to go along with this massive increase.
“Nick Clegg is the deputy prime minister – it is his Government which is now not only increasing the fees, they increasing them threefold.”
In a Lib Dem press release published during the election on April 28, Nick Clegg said: “Not only will we oppose any raising of the cap, we will scrap tuition fees for good, including for part-time students.
“Students can make the difference in countless seats in this election. Use your vote to block unfair tuition fees and get them scrapped once and for all”.
Andrew Miller added: “The coalition Government has taken away Government funding from the universities and have told the students they are to fund them instead. Locally, the University of Chester has lost over £20m, that is 87% of its teaching fund. This is a direct loss to this area and now can only be made up by Chester’s students.”
