UK Witnesses New Political Activism On Education Reform
Posted on December 16, 2010
By Richard Robinson
In April, a new word entered the British political vocabulary, and then rapidly exited like a passing comet. Cleggmania was the term taken up by the media to refer to the incredible surge in support for Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg following the first of the pre-election leadership debates. For a period, he became the most popular party leader since Winston Churchill with an approval rating of 72%. How long ago those halcyon days must have seemed for the Leader of the Third Party and now Deputy Prime Minister last week as that figure dipped to -22% and Westminster echoed to thousands of protestors chanting anti-Clegg slogans.
What contributed to that huge dip in support and brought the protestors onto the streets is the vexed issue of tuition fees. For them, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government’s proposals to increase the cap on tuition fees by 300 per cent, allowing universities to charge a maximum of £9,000 a year, are unfair and will dissuade large numbers of teenagers from going to university. While the government will allow students to pay for fees after graduation, and with extra help for the poorest, there is anger that the repayments will create an added financial burden on a generation who already face considerable challenges. Having pledged not to increase tuition fees before the election, Clegg and the Liberal Democrats are the focus of this anger. Last Thursday, it erupted in violent street protests including clashes with the police and an attack on the Rolls Royce carrying Prince Charles and his wife.
These protests form part of a wave of activism across Europe in the face of austerity cuts – Greece, France and Italy have all experienced major student and trade union demonstrations. The activists are part of an age group previously accused of political apathy but, driven by a perception that previous generations have enjoyed the spoils and that they face hard times, they are finding their voice. Furthermore, they are expressing themselves independently, using new technologies to mobilise and without necessarily following traditional representative groups. In recent weeks, the main student body in the UK, the National Union of Students has often appeared removed from activists. Last week, protestors used Twitter to rally their forces and Google Maps to confound efforts to contain them on the streets.
To provide some historical context on tuition fees, university education was completely free to domestic students until 1998. As the students point out, Nick Clegg, David Cameron and the rest of the Cabinet benefited from free university education. This has prompted the accusations that the Government is ‘pulling up the ladder’.
What has changed since then is the sheer number of students in higher education. Between the mid-sixties and mid-seventies, the number of full-time students doubled to 453,000. By 1997 there were 1.2 million students enrolled on full-time higher education courses. In just the 12 years since tuition fees were first introduced (firstly at £1,000 per annum, now at just over £3,000), the number of applicants accepted into university has increased by almost 50%. With this massive change, the funding model is unsustainable.
To the protestors, their generation is unfairly bearing the brunt of policy changes; for example through the increase in tuition fees and the increase in retirement age. It’s true that the cuts to university teaching budgets of 80% dwarf almost every other area of Government spending reduction. But more widely, there is a growing realisation that the lifestyle and benefits which previous generations enjoyed will no longer be available to these students, and they are angry. This anger will only grow as public spending is further reduced and we will see the protests spread internationally.
In the UK, opponents have rightly identified the Liberal Democrats as the weakest link. The party’s broken manifesto pledge, its disproportionate number of seats in university cities, and the way in which it is deeply divided on the issue make it an obvious target. More than three quarters of Liberal Democrat backbenchers did not follow Nick Clegg in the House of Commons vote. The leader of the Labour Party mischievously waited only a few days after the vote to issue an invitation for disaffected Liberal Democrats to work with his party. The former Director of Policy for the Lib Dems has accepted and will be feeding Lib Dem ideas into the Labour Party Policy Review. Elected Liberal Democrats now expect a sustained campaign from aggrieved students and will be bracing themselves for the May elections to the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and local councils. Historically, political participation and turnout among these young voters has been incredibly low. The Liberal Democrats may be hoping that this apathetic trend continues.
Richard Robinson is an Account Director with the Public Affairs practice for Fleishman-Hillard London.