FEATURES
Tuesday November 26, 2019
FEATURES EDITOR
STUDENTS IN POLITICS
HARRY CLAY speaks to Lib Dem society chair Tom Crawford about what it’s like to run in the election. HC: Where are you standing, and for what party? TC: I’m standing in Middlesbrough for the Liberal Democrats. HC: What made you run? TC: So thing that made me run for Parliament was just getting more and more despairing at the state of politics. I just wanted to be the person on the ballot paper who people could vote for, giving them the option to vote for a credible liberal alternative. HC: Have you ran for office before? TC: I stood in some council elections in Sunderland, I’ve stood in two council elections. HC: One of them was the first to be called, wasn’t it? TC: Yeah, it was the first ever election I stood in. It was the first results [sic] and for about 15 minutes, I was the Lib Dem in the country with the most votes. Then 15 minutes later, one of my colleagues in Sunderland got 60% and that blew me off the water. HC: How hard is it to run?
TC: I think it’s all about the support. The local party in Middlesbrough have been absolutely fantastic. It’s a small team of volunteers and I’ve been massively grateful for the support they’ve given me. In my experience, it’s been quite easy. As the election campaigns heightened, I’ve been surprised by the amount of emails I’ve got, you know you get seven a day about the same issue, and stuff like that. But yeah, yeah, so it’s been enjoyable. HC: How has it affected your political awareness? TC: I’ve sort of become like, I’ve been checking local news a lot more often than I used to, making sure if the council or the mayor of Middlesbrough doing something, I’m aware of the issues, even if I’m not issuing comment myself. HC: Do you believe more students should run for parliament? TC: Undoubtedly yes. In the last general election, there was a Welsh Labour MP standing down I think at the age of 82. You know, I’ve got absolutely
no qualms with 82 year olds being in Parliament, but if we’re having 82 year olds in Parliament, why can we have a lot more young people? HC: For one last question, and it’s a bit cheeky. Are you just doing this for a future safe seat? TC: No. If I was doing this for a future safe seat, I wouldn’t be standing for Liberal Democrats. There’s there’s no such thing as a safe seat in the Liberal Democrats, you know, if the election result changes from 2010 to 2015 have told the party anything, it’s that there’s no seat to take for granted. Liberal Democrat counsellors, and MPs - any political officeholder. We need to work because the public aren’t culturally ingrained to vote Liberal Democrat. There are some communities that culturally vote Labour and culturally vote Conservative, you know, we win seats because of the hard work we put in. HC: Fantastic. TC: Thanks.
13
How Do the Manifestos Square up on Higher Education? BY
HARRY CLAY
GIVEN THE IMPORTANCE of education, the relevance of higher education to a university, and (finally) the release of all the main party manifestos, we’ve jumped into their higher education commitments to see what’s what. Pressing on most people’s minds is the policies being put forwards on tuition fees. Labour are running again with the policy of scrapping them, emphasising how average student debt has skyrocketed since their tripling over the past decade. The Green Party is calling for the same, as well as writing off debt for those who have paid more than £9,000 a year. The Lib Dems are calling for a review in the next Parliament. This seems like a shrewd move, as whether they want to change tuition fees or not, they will always be tainted by the broken promise of the coalition. Surprisingly, both the Brexit Party and UKIP have policies on the matter, with the former calling for the end of interest on tuition fees, and the latter, scrapping tuition fees altogether for STEM students, so long as they’re committed to working in the country for at least five years (way to take the edge off a reasonable policy). The next major issue, maintenance fees, is also seeing some change. Both the Lib Dems and Labour are calling for maintenance grants to be brought back. They work as the current loans do, except they don’t have to be paid back. The Lib Dems are looking to limit their return to only the least well-off students. One thing to be noted here is that the Tories appear to be continuing with more of the same. As Branwen Jeffreys, the BBC Education Editor puts it, “for most degree students and their universities, there is little in this manifesto”. Labour are hitting at the heart of the most recent strikes by calling for an end to the casualisation of the higher education workforce. This would mean hiring lecturers, tutors, and professors on long term contracts, as opposed to short nine month to two year agreements. This would also have impacts on those paid by the hour, which could perhaps have an impact on how graduate teaching assistants are hired. In terms of mental health, the Lib Dems appear to have struck a chord with their proposed ‘Student Mental Health Charter’. The exact contents aren’t specified, but with their aim to “require universities to make mental health services accessible to their students,’’ it’s likely to be a move in the right direction. They’re also looking to increase the transparency of selection criteria for getting into uni. This is in an effort to expand the participation of underrepresented and disadvantaged groups, something the Labour manifesto also touches on. However, this comes after the Tories have already introduced legislation that ensures university funding directly correlates with how well it widens participation. A peculiarity only the Brexit Party appear to have made much noise about: the 50% target. Brought in by Labour, Blair committed to trying to bring half of young adults into higher education, with Department for Education statistics showing it had been reached earlier this year. This will likely be aimed at areas supporting an increase in apprenticeships and businesses. The three main parties appear to be moving in the same direction when it comes to large-scale education reform. Labour are looking to turn the Office for Students into the National Education Service, the Lib Dems are proposing to “raise standards” by reforming the OfS (although it isn’t quite clear how), and the Tories are aiming to make the OfS look at increasing the “civic role” of universities. All quite ‘high concept’, but lacking in substance? That’s up to you.