Dear Rugby Liberal Democrat Councillor or leading members of the Rugby Party.
NICK CLEGGS SHAME
As many of you will know. I was the Green Party Parliamentary Candidate at the General Election for Rugby and was pleased to agree with Jerry Roodhouse and the Lib Democrats over the issue of student fees against the Labour Party and the Tories position at the hustings and in print.
Jerry increased the Lib Dem vote in Rugby as did the Lib Dems across the country not least because of their strong support for students.
Unfortunately the opinion polls show that it is very likely the Liberal Democrats will face an electoral melt down at the next local elections if they continue jumping to the Tories tune not least over student fees and will lose some good progressive councillors in Rugby.
I notice from reading your Rugby Liberal Democrat website that the Rugby Party appears to be swinging behind Clegg’s discredited position – I would ask you to think again!
Watch the students protests today and do the right thing – confirm that you as an individual stand firm to your electoral pledge over students fees and that you will be contacting Liberal Democrat MP’s to demand they also keep their electoral promises to students.
And also read this below from Jenny Jones Green Party member of the London Assembly and Sam Coates Co-Chair of the Young Greens before making up your mind:
"A whole generation of young people are having their futures torn up in front of their eyes as policies they explicitly voted against are put into effect with the support of a party many of them voted for.
They note that university fees in the UK are already among the most expensive in Europe, and if trebled to £9000 will be the most expensive in the world.
University fees in the UK are already among the most expensive in Europe and if trebled to £9000 will be the most expensive in the world. The average across all sectors in the US is around £7000 and even private universities in Japan (£4379 a year) and South Korea (£5379 a year) will be cheaper than public universities here. Sweden, Finland, Denmark and some others all still charge no fees at all and the OECD average is just £1427 per year.
The UK Government is effectively privatising universities. The whole burden of higher education is falling on individual students. Why is this Government so keen to saddle young people with debt when other nations continue to recognise the wider importance of education, especially in a recession? Graduate debt has more wide reaching effects than we realise, not only do repayments make it difficult for graduates to set up a home, they are unable to pay into pensions and will generally spend less in the economy, further damaging chances of a lasting recovery.
This is just one ingredient in a toxic cocktail of cuts and privatisation being imposed on the nation for ideological reasons. The Tory cuts are not an inevitable response to the financial crisis but an attack on the very idea of a socially-conscious, good society.
We have to ask: what kind of a socially-destructive example are Tory and Lib Dem MPs setting to the current generation of young people? And would it be surprising if this kind of behaviour by those in power were to leave millions questioning democracy?”
I look forward to each and every one of your replies.
Regards
Roy Sandison – Rugby Green Party
*Please note this letter has been published on the Rugby Green Party website - http://rugbygreenparty.blogspot.com/
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