NUS responds to Government HE Bill vote
27 January 2004

Yesterday, NUS pushed the Government to the limit. We were only 5 votes away from getting rid of top up fees once and for all. The result was incredibly disappointing to all of us who have worked so hard. But the fight is not over yet.

In response to the vote in Parliament, NUS National President Mandy Telford said:

"Fees were the biggest issue on the doorstep at the last General Election. In response, the Prime Minister wanted to find a better and fairer funding system.

"Almost two and a half years on, the Prime Minister has managed to win a vote that could well lead to the introduction of top-up fees - a u-turn on his manifesto pledge not to introduce them.

"I refuse to believe that MPs have been won over by concessions. A review in 2009 does not help the tens of thousands of students who will be paying top-up fees from 2006, or those priced out of university because of the commodification of higher education.

"We know, and Nick Brown knows, that top-up fees will be incredibly damaging for higher education and the outcome of any review will prove us right and we will be back where we started, trying to find a fairer funding system.

"Surely common sense dictates that this Bill needs to be stopped and we should have a review now to finding a system that doesn't punish students. This fight is not over - we will take it to Committee Stage, to amendments and to the Lords. We will stop any moves to create a market in higher education. We will be having a week of action beginning on Monday 23 February, including a shutdown of education on the 25th and students lobbying MPs in constituencies on the Friday."

You can view a Parliamentary process chart [ http://www.nusonline.co.uk/resource/resources/pdf/4520.pdf]
showing how a bill is made into law through the Parliamentary process. As you will see, we are still in the early stages of that process. This fight is not officially over until the Queen has signed the 'Royal Assent'.

The bill must still pass the Committee stage (where amendments to the Bill can be tabled) and in the House of Lords (when peers get the chance to reject the Government's proposals).

The chart also tracks the enormous amount of campaigning activities carried out by NUS, by students' union officers, and by students, showing how each action has strategically responded to each point in the Parliamentary process.

NUS will continue the fight til the very end of the Parliamentary process if necesaary. We are calling for you to continue the action with us.

Click here [ http://www.nusonline.co.uk/subsites/stopfeesnow/toolkit/article.php?itm_sect=/nus/campaigns/stopfeesnow/toolkit/&articleid=268850to] find out more details about further actions against the Government's HE plans.