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NEWS RELEASE
from the
Liberal Democrats on Harlow District Council |
| Contact | Cllr Lorna Spenceley (home 324676, mobile 07930 337596) |
| Release | Monday 26 January 2004 |
Step Down As Minister and Oppose Top Up Fees, Liberal Democrats urge Rammell
Harlow Liberal Democrat leader Lorna Spenceley yesterday (Sunday) called on the town’s Labour MP to resign his ministerial post so that he could vote against his party’s plans to introduce top-up fees of up to £3,000 a year for university students. In a letter to Mr Rammell, Mrs Spenceley said:
“Fees impose great hardship on many who take up university places. Introducing top-up fees of up to £3,000 a year, tripling the average student debt, will make these problems even worse and deter even more potential students from continuing their education.
“I know that, as a minister, you are bound to support all the bills in the Government’s programme, whatever your personal views. But on a matter so crucial as this, where the issue at stake is whether our higher education system is based on the ability to learn or the ability to pay, I would urge you to consider stepping down from your position, as a number of your colleagues did over the Iraq war, to allow you to oppose this unfair and misguided bill.”
ENDS
Note: Update 28 Jan 2004: Mr
Rammell did vote last night to make students pay top-up fees.