Twelve months ago at NUS National Conference Nick Clegg’s video promising to “fight, campaign against and resist fees” brought cheers amongst the delegates on conference floor. This year Nick Clegg has stirred somewhat different emotions on campuses across this country.
The pledge was successful because of its simplicity and its reach, but it was also successful because it captured a feeling within the political narrative- the very notion of trust in our politicians and the political system, which was high on the public consciousness because of the expenses scandal.
But having taken a lead on the Vote for Students campaign what pearls of wisdom do I have for those leading our future work around the General Election:
The pledge is dead, long live the pledge-
There is not a cats in hells chance that a politician will ever again sign a pledge, and open themselves up to the type of political suicide experienced by the Liberal Democrats. So NUS will need to come up with a more sophisticated way of getting promises in exchange for student support and this will require a different style of lobbying and campaigning, more localised and long term lobbying by students unions and NUS. But we should also continue to remind politicians of the lessons of the pledge, and use the success of Vote for Students as leverage with politicians and media commentators right up until the next election.
Apathetic?
Students have long been seen as apathetic, but last year both the queues into the polling booths and our presence subsequently protesting on the streets have shown that myth to be unsubstantiated.
But has the success of our campaign, and the actions of those pledge breakers, created a whole new generation of students who see voting as futile? Will students bother voting in 2015 or will they have lost all faith with the politicians and the system? It is now NUS’ duty to reach out to members and continue to seek to mobilise them for elections, both national and local. We need to show how decisions made in Westminster, Holyrood, Cardiff and in local government affect them now more than ever, with the scale of cuts that have been announced. We need to highlight that students are still outnumbered at the polls by pensioners, demonstrating what that does to the political discourse as a result. And we need to re-instil that fear in politicians that promises cannot simply be broken and forgotten - that there is a price for pricing the next generation of students out of education.
Prepare for the fight-back
The last year has certainly been tough, but the task ahead of us is in many ways wrought with many more difficulties. We will need more than a few months to plan; we will need to build for the fight-back from now until the next election.
The Vote for Students campaign was an immense success. We may not have won but the pledge will long be remembered as an example of an effective campaigning tool, which nearly brought this coalition to the brink of collapse. This was only possible because of the hard work of you, your students unions, and the staff and officers here in NUS. It was a pleasure to have helped support the campaign, and I look forward to seeing from afar the next stage of NUS’ education funding campaign, where the continued pressure of our collective voice at the ballot box once again strikes fear amongst politicians and the political system.
Susan Nash, VP Society & Citizenship