Response to the Nick Clegg apology video
Nick Clegg’s recent apology is nothing but salt in students’ wounds.
It comes at a time where we’ve seen a drop in admissions, a cut in our block grant and the squeezing of budgets. It comes at a time when we’re sad and angry at the bleak landscape we see before our eyes. It comes at a time when sorry simply isn’t good enough.
The last couple of years have been a frustrating time for those in both the Further and Higher Education sectors. It has seen the introduction of up to 9k Fees, loss of funding to certain subjects, applicant control numbers dropped and less stability across the sector putting Higher Education under attack.
The picture, however, looked vastly different before the last General Election. A previous Student Affairs Committee at UCLan Students’ Union worked with other students from all over the country and the National Union of Students (NUS) to get candidates from across the political spectrum to sign a pledge to not raise tuition fees. One of the most notable of course, was Nick Clegg.
Nick Clegg then broke that pledge upon becoming Deputy Prime Minister. He turned his back on students and turned his back on his promises. Now he’s released an apology just as empty as that promise. It wasn’t an apology for turning his back on us; it was an apology for making the pledge in the first place. He said that he shouldn’t have made a promise he couldn’t keep. A promise which, no doubt, helped increase Lib Dem votes and ultimately resulted in Nick Clegg being part of the coalition Government.
As a result of that Government we’ve seen an unforgivable rise in fees; a rise in graduate unemployment and cuts across the Higher Education sector on a scale that can only be described as horrific.
Nick Clegg sold us down the river for his own political gain and for that, we say no.
We say no to accepting his apology, we say no to forgiving and forgetting and we say no to accepting what has happened and just moving on.
That is why on November 21st 2012 we will be taking students to London to stand up to everyone who turned their backs and voted for attacks on yours and our education and tell them enough is enough as part of #Demo2012.
We hope you will join us.
Edd Graham Hyde –Students’ Union President Ben Latham – Activities and Participation Officer Lee Mac – Campaigns Officer Joey Guy – Education Officer Sophie Bennett – Media Officer
More information about #Demo2012 will be posted on the website shortly but until then please email us directly at yourunion@uclan.ac.uk if you have any comments or would like to get involved.
