NUS Lobby of Parliament on March 1st

1st of March was a great day for me as I took part in the NUS’ lobby of MPs. The focus of the lobby was the 2010 coalition to keep the cap on Tuition fees. This would be achieved by asking MPS to sign an Early Day Motion and join up to the coalition itself. Myself, Andrew Lewis and VP Development Elect Emily Beardsmore talked to our three Reading MPs – Martin Salter, Rob Wilson and John Redwood.

Emily and I had a long discussion with Martin Salter on campus first thing in the morning, and as well as agreeing to sign the Early day Motion we had a long chat about the idea of respect being towards young people as well as from them, youth provision in Reading (both Emily and I were or are youth workers) and the possibility of RUSU working with Martin on a relief project for the Tsunami.

A journey into London (and another chat with Martin whom we bumped into on the tube) and we walked into the Houses of Parliament. Andrew came along after a meeting and spoke to Rob Wilson who decided not to support the campaign on the grounds that he ‘might not be an MP in 2010’. Mr Wilson’s certainly keeping in the public eye (it was him who called for Ian Blair’s resignation recently) and I have more belief that he will be still around in four years time; hopefully he can support it then.

The day was full of very interesting speeches from members of the 2010 coalition and the NUS National Executive Committee. We had discussions about the affect Top-up Fees would have on minority background students, such as LGBT students or Black and Minority Ethnic students and also the concerns of lecturers and other academic staff.

The last event of the day was a parliamentary panel debate, with Bill Rammell (HE and lifelong learning minister), and the two shadow ministers for HE, Boris Johnson (Conservative) and Edward Davey (Lib Dems). I couldn’t stay for all of the discussion as I had to go and talk to John Redwood, but highlights before I left included Warwick reporting their MP said “You won’t her many Conservative MPs say this, but I approve of widening participation as it allows students from lower social and minority groups to mix with their superiors”, all three of the speakers completely avoiding a question on SE Weighting and whether SE students should pay a higher percentage of their loans for accommodation and living than anyone else and Boris… well being Boris, including the suggestion that lectures didn’t care about study for academic worth only for pay. Brilliant. John Redwood (MP for Wokingham) was unsure what his stance would be in 2009 and so was uncomfortable with signing the Early Day Motion.

So one out of three MPs signed the EDM, but we got soem really good face time with our MPS and also a lot of information about the issues around variable fees and the 2010 cap. There's work to be done, battles to be fought and a campaign to be won.