News from Brent Council

Labour Group
Press Officer: Cllr James
Powney
Tel: 07940 629494
E-mail:
cllr.james.powney@brent.gov.
uk
Labour Group Office Tel: 020
8937 1135

Friday, 10 December 2010

BRENT BETRAYED
Brent’s young people and their families were left reeling with shock as
Brent Central’s Lib-Dem MP last night broke her solemn promise to
vote against increased tuition fees.

Students will have to pay fees of up to £9,000 per year of University,

under the new plans voted in last night in the face of mass public
protest. 323 MPs voted for the increase. 302 MPs, including all Labour
MPs, 21 Lib Dems and even 6 Conservatives, voted against. Before the
election, Brent’s Lib Dem MP pledged to vote against any increase in
fees.

Strikingly, many Liberal Democrats did keep their word, and voted
against the huge hike in student fees. However, all those on the
Government payroll chose to break their pre-election pledge, rather
than resign from their Ministerial jobs.

Brent Central’s Lib Dem MP is in the spotlight as she often spoke out
against tuition fees, before she joined the Government payroll, and
specifically about their impact in Brent. In her first speech in
Parliament, she said:
“I shall touch on another issue that is of huge importance in Brent—it
was raised with me regularly on the doorstep—and that is tuition
fees and top-up fees...
I feel immense frustration when I hear talk about widening
participation while we are debating the introduction of a policy that
will deter the very students we are trying to attract. Fear of debt is
just as real as debt, and that is why this is such an issue in my
constituency. It is likely to deter students from lower-income
backgrounds and ethnic minority communities—particularly the
Muslim community, which is very large in my constituency—who
often have very different attitudes to debt.”

Cllr Ann John, Labour leader of Brent Council, said:

 News from Brent Council
Labour Group
Press Officer: Cllr James
Powney
Tel: 07940 629494
E-mail:
cllr.james.powney@brent.gov.
uk
Labour Group Office Tel: 020
8937 1135

“Brent’s voters have been betrayed in the cruellest way by their Liberal
Democrat MP. Many local residents are telling me they are dismayed
their support is being used to prop up the Conservative Government’s
attack on our community.”

Cllr Muhammed Butt, Deputy Leader of Brent Council, also commented:

“People in Brent care deeply about University – we have some of the
best education rates in the country, despite not being among the
richest. It’s depressing how quickly our Lib-Dem MP has swapped her
principles for a pay rise and the perks of a Government job.”

ENDS