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Cheltenham Liberal DemocratsCampaigning to win with Martin Horwood |
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Tuition fees - Open Letter from Martin Horwood MP to Jessica Earp
December 9, 2010 9:33 AM
Dear Jessica
I understand your frustration at my decision not to return from the United Nations climate change talks in Cancun to vote against the rise in tuition fees. As you rightly guessed I had indeed taken the decision to vote against the rise although when I met student representatives in London, including your very persuasive welfare officer Cassie Agbehenu, I also stressed both the positive and progressive aspects of Vince Cable's proposed package and the potentially serious consequences of voting no rather than abstaining. I still think there are risks for both the science budget and for Further Education institutions like Gloucestershire College if the vote today goes against the government.
Nonetheless, lobbying by Cassie, the University of Gloucestershire Student Union, Cheltenham Liberal Youth and many other constituents persuaded me that this was a risk worth taking.
The risk I was not prepared to take, however, was with the future of our planet. The talks this week here in Cancun are of incalculable importance. A four degree temperature rise is on the cards unless the world moves faster to take action and that would mean desertification, loss of food supply, more unpredictable flooding, mudslides and hurricanes and the death and displacement of millions of people. If climate change reaches a 'tipping point' and becomes unstoppable, the very future of humanity's place on this planet could be at stake. I very much doubt if our children's children will be worrying about tuition fees then. I'm very disappointed that your letter doesn't even mention climate change and implied that this was just another conference.
And just to be absolutely clear: I did not decide to attend the conference knowing the tuition fees vote was taking place this Thursday. I was nominated to go to Cancun back in September by the global environmental group GLOBE and the UK Parliament's all-party group on climate change. I finally received one of the very scarce UN accreditations on 23 November, at which point I then booked flights and accommodation, paid for by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. All these organisations expected me to attend the whole of the critical last week of the conference. The tuition fees vote was announced only on 2 December, after the conference had started and far too late for the sponsoring organisations to arrange alternative representation.
As you may have read in the media, Labour's profoundly irresponsible decision not to provide a 'pair' for our energy and climate change secretary, Chris Huhne, put him under great pressure to return from Cancun. Given his growing role in resolving the central dispute here around the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol, his removal from the talks would have been a disaster. If he had returned, my position here would have been untenable and the media speculation that he would return did indeed have me scrambling for the airline schedules and packing my bags. I was ready to leave for the airport when I heard the news that Nick Clegg had instructed Chris to stay here regardless of the party political games being played by Labour. This was in my view a truly responsible and - under the circumstances - politically courageous decision. If I had then gone ahead with my own plan to return, it could once again have added to the pressure on Chris to return. I was simply not prepared to take that risk and took the decision to stay. I cannot emphasise enough that this was my decision and my decision alone.
If it is any consolation, reflect on this. Were we both in Westminster, my vote and Chris's would have cancelled each other out. As we are both in Cancun, the result is actually exactly the same.
Student finance is important but climate change is unquestionably more important. I will nevertheless continue to speak and vote against the tuition fees system whenever I really do have the opportunity to do so and will happily campaign for a fairer, more sustainable way of financing Higher Education in future. I will happily meet with you to discuss how we can take this forward, whatever the result of today's vote.
Thank you for your success in engaging young people in political debate in the way that you have. UGSU can be justly proud of your campaign.
Yours sincerely