Polling figures from The Student Panel have recently been cited by The Observer. The Observer article starts:
“Simon Wright, the Liberal Democrat MP for Norwich South, looked tiny, seated at the front of Lecture Theatre One at the University of East Anglia. Staring at him were hundreds of students who had packed the hall for a debate on tuition fees. Near the MP was a placard reminding Wright of his pre-election promise to “vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament”.
Finally, after weeks of deliberation, Wright has decided to do just that. His decision was hardly a surprise: with a knife-edge 310 majority, won with the support of undergraduates, Wright had topped the list for the National Union of Students’ “decapitation” strategy.
Had he chosen to vote for a government policy that will see the cap on fees almost trebled to £9,000, the NUS would have thrown all its resources into unseating him at the next election. “I think I made the right decision,” he told the students about choosing “constituents” over “coalition”.”
Read the rest of the article here.