There is an ongoing occupation and protest at the Tory Party HQ in Millbank in protest of the proposed plans to increase fees and slash government funding of higher education. The occupation, although not organised by the NUS, comes on the heels of the National Union of Students and University & College Union Funding Our Future march, which brought together tens of thousands university staff and students, 6th form students, and families. During the Funding Our Future rally, groups of students began to move away from the rally and streamed into 30 Millbank, Tory HQ, where they entered the lobby and began a sit-down protest. Upon arriving outside the Tory HQ, the protesters burned effigies of Cameron, Clegg and flags. A large crowd of several hundred students rallied outside the HQ in support of the occupiers. Earlier in the day, the march saw several spontaneous sit-down protests in front of Parliament and along the route of the demo. As of 2pm, a group of students staging a sit down protest in front of Parliament have been "kettled" (contained) by the police. Another group of students attempted to occupy the Department of Business Innovation and Skills.



Emily Whitby, from Manchester University, said “education is a social good that we should be investing in- we need free education for a better society. The government‘s plans to astronomically hike up tuition fees is a dangerous attack on social mobility and public services- this isn‘t a time for polite lobbying, this is a time for action.”



Ryan Williams, a student at Cambridge University, said “the public sector and future generations are being forced to pay for the crisis caused by the banks and corporations- we didn’t cause the crisis, and we shouldn’t have to pay for it. These cuts are ideological and brutal- we must act now to stop the government from destroying our society and our education system.”



Notes to the editors



The government’s current proposal for university fees is to lift the cap up to £9,000 per year, which represents a tripling of current fees ( http://www.nus.org.uk/en/News/News/NUS-responds-to-Willetts-statement-on-tuition-fees/)The



University and College Union has said that the £2.9 bn cuts to universities will lead to colleges and universities closing ( http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=5071&from=1676&start=11) and heads of top universities have said that they may have to consider privatisation to cope with the funding cuts ( http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7750423/Top-universities-warn-of-bleak-future.html)



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