SNP can teach Jez on student debt
LOOKING out the window of my Scottish Parliament office one snowy afternoon in December 2010, I was greeted with the sight of a protester waving a placard proclaiming “Clegg is a c**t”.
There’s an astute judge of character, I remember thinking, she hasn’t even met me…
Of course, the actual subject of that student’s anger was my near namesake Nick Clegg. The then deputy prime minister had obtained pantomime villain status after breaking a manifesto commitment on university tuition fees in England.
The Lib Dems paid a heavy price for that betrayal. The party are now a husk, with Clegg even losing his seat.
Student funding is back in the headlines amid claims Jeremy Corbyn has backtracked on a pledge to dump historic student debt. The Tories have so far failed to make it a Nick Clegg moment – mainly because Corbyn didn’t actually make such a specific pledge at all.
For those in Scotland with long memories, the episode recalls a more blatant example of broken promises to students.
Back in 2007, the SNP failed to deliver on a similar commitment to write off student debt.
They broke their word because once in government, it became clear the promises made in opposition were not realistic.
In fairness, Nationalists have stuck to their guns on the flagship policy of avoiding up front tuition fees for new students. But funding the policy has meant slashing grants to poorer students to subsidise a free education for the rich.
There’s a couple of (tuition fee-free) lessons in there for Jeremy Corbyn.