1. The Coalition: a programme for government published
The Government this week published an expanded coalition agreement document, detailing their programme for ‘partnership government’. This builds upon a shorter document released on 11 May, and is said to set in place a programme for a full 5 years of government by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.
Particularly significant to students and the student movement was the agreement that the coalition would await the findings of the Browne Review before determining their position of tuition fees and higher education funding, and that Liberal Democrats would retain the right to abstain on any subsequent vote if they did not support the Government's proposals. This has been met with anger from many students, given the Liberal Democrat manifesto proposals to abolish tuition fees and the personal pledge of 56 of the 57 Liberal Democrat MPs to vote against any rise in tuition fees and press the Government for a fairer alternative.
In further education, the document proposes giving colleges greater autonomy from state control, plans to abolish many of the further education quangos and proposes that state funding of further education “should follow the choices of students”.
Full details of the coalition agreement can be found here: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/409088/pfg_coalition.pdf
Aaron Porter, NUS President-elect said:
“Students are justifiably concerned that there has been no change in the weak line on tuition fees in the coalition agreement, particularly given that this has been a longstanding flagship Liberal Democrat policy that has boosted the party's electoral to voters."
"After making a firm manifesto commitment to scrap fees and after a special party conference just last weekend overwhelmingly approved a motion to allow Liberal Democrat MPs to honour their commitments to the electorate, there is still significant work to do to ensure the coalition's approach to student funding is acceptable."
"We look forward to working with both parties of government over the coming months to ensure that any bill that reaches parliament reverses the trend towards burdening students with ever larger debts and that MPs are able to keep their promises to their constituents."
2. Government ministers announced
Prime Minister David Cameron this week announced his full cabinet, including junior ministerial posts. Vince Cable has been made Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with overall responsibiliy for universities policy, while David Willetts will work within the department as Minister of State for Universities and Science. John Hayes has been made Minister of State for Skills and Lifelong Learning within the same department, with responsibility for further education and adult skills.
Michael Gove has been appointed Secretary of State for Education. He is joined by a ministerial team of Conservative MPs Nick Gibb and Tim Loughton, along with Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather.
A full list of cabinet appointees can be found here: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/409188/cabinetcommitteesystemmay2010.pdf
3. Electoral Commission release report on election night ‘voting chaos’
The Electoral Commission this week released a report on the ‘voting chaos’ that ensued in several polling stations across the country.
Hundreds of voters were denied the chance to vote, despite having turned up to the polling station well before the 10pom deadline. The report confirms that thousands of people, including hundreds of students, were denied their vote by poor planning and ill-prepared elections staff, including in the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg’s own Sheffield Hallam constituency.
Aaron Porter, NUS President-elect said:
“Huge numbers of students came out to vote on polling day, many of them for the first time, and hundreds of them were denied their democratic right. The recommendations in this report are important first steps in ensuring that students and other members of the electorate are able to vote and we call on the new Government to make sure the changes are made before the next local or national elections.”
“We still need to get to the bottom of the situation where groups of students at one Sheffield polling place were sent to the back of the queuewhen it became clear that not everyone would be able to vote in time. Reasons given at the time and subsequently appear to contradict each other and a more thorough investigation is needed to ensure students were not deliberately targeted.”