Always win when you’re singing

Antony Hook has broken the newsthat last night’s meeting of the LibDem’s Federal Policy Committee voted 14-5 to keep the party’s policy to scrap tuition fees. Antony takes up the story:

The people (Centreforum) who wanted us to drop this pledge and back Blair’s fees could still try to bring their policy to a vote on conference floor. The FPC decision is fantastic news. It also indicates a large progressive majority on the 2009-2010 committee.

I understand the hero of the hour is Geoff Payne who put the amendment to keep our policy as it is.

This is really good news. Of course the policy still has to go through a party conference, as the LibDems are a democratic party. But is is wonderful that the liberal wing of the party is reasserting itself over those who would rather we took a more rightwards path.

The arguments have been rehearsed over and overand I do not intend to go through them again. I just hope that the party does not now take the route of means testing students on the income of their parents. There has to be a progressive taxation regime and a student nurse from a middle class family should not pay thousands more than someone from a poorer home who goes on to be a corporate lawyer. We should be looking to a state which supports people to make choices based on what is best for them and the country, niot which is the least frightening in terms of storing up debt.

Steve Webb MP puts some of the issues very clearly on his blog, whilst old friend Neil Fawcett, a member of FPC makes most of the points that I would want to, particularly regarding income.