It Is becoming clearer by the day that the threatened rebellion over university tuition fees, when the vote takes place on January 27th, will have less to do with the future of higher education than with the desire to wound Tony Blair, preferably mortally. No doubt, a good many of the 160 Labour MPS who signed a House of Commons motion back in November attacking variable fees had genuine concerns about the effect of the proposed legislation on university access. Quite a few were hostile in a knee-jerk sort of way simply because they had not taken the trouble to understand exactly what the government was trying to do and why it was important. Others were hoping to force financial concessions to allay their anxiety that poorer students might be deterred from going to university by the prospect of taking on large debts. Although manifestos are hardly sacred texts, a handful of the rebels may even have been genuinely offended by what they (legitimately) saw as a breach of the promise in 2001 not to bring in top-up fees.
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