Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, Greg Mulholland this week signed a pledge to voters ahead of the forthcoming general election that he will vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament.

The National Union of Students (NUS) has launched the Vote for Students campaign to encourage candidates to pledge to protect student interests by opposing attempts to lift the cap on student top-up fees.
Details can be found on the NUS website http://www.voteforstudents.co.uk/

The Vote for Students funding pledge states:

“I pledge to vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament, and will put pressure on the Government to introduce a fairer alternative.” Greg Mulholland said:

“I am fully behind the NUS and their commitment to keep higher education affordable for all.

“In these times of economic uncertainty it is even more important that we recognise the importance of education and continued investment in the countries future.”

NUS President Wes Streeting said:

“The vast majority of the general public is against higher fees, and although this review has been set up to report after the general election, voters deserve to know where their MP stands on this highly emotive issue.

“I am delighted that Greg he is standing up for students and their families in Leeds North West by signing up to this pledge. He has demonstrated his determination to give every young person in Leeds North a fair chance to go to university.”

A recent YouGov poll commissioned by NUS revealed that 88% of the public does not think the review should even consider increasing fees, while a majority believes that it should look at alternatives. Last year, research by Opinionpanel showed that a political party’s position on tuition fees would affect how 79% of students would vote in a general election.