Nick Clegg has faced strong criticism from students over the change of policy on fees Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown has defended Nick Clegg ahead of Thursday’s Commons vote on whether university tuition fees should rise.
He said the deputy prime minister had shown “great wisdom and a good deal of courage” in his handling of the issue.
Mr Clegg has faced criticism for backing coalition plans to raise fees to as much as £9,000, despite pledging to fight any rise before the election.
But Lord Ashdown said the choice would deliver benefits “in the long term”.
Before the general election the Liberal Democrats pledged to oppose any increase in tuition fees.
But the policy changed when the party formed a coalition government with the Conservatives. Under the agreement, Lib Dem MPs can still abstain.
However, former party leaders Sir Menzies Campbell and Charles Kennedy are among those thought likely to vote against the change when it goes before the Commons.
Lord Ashdown told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What we’re doing is going through a process and this is all out in the open, [and] being done without rancour, which is very important to hold the party together.
“I personally think that Nick has handled this with great wisdom and a good deal of courage. It’s not the first time when the Liberal Democrats have taken, in the short term, unpopular decision that they believe to be right which has delivered benefit in the long term.”
But Lib Dem MP Greg Mulholland said: “There are very, very few who will support this motion. There are a few considering whether to abstain or vote against. But there are already a notable number who have decided that they will vote against this if it comes to it.
“And they are also saying, as I am, that really we shouldn’t be going ahead with this because we’ve got ourselves into a mess and they only way out of this is to not have a vote on Thursday.”
The fees policy has been framed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which is led by Lib Dem Vince Cable. He has said he will vote in favour of it on Thursday.
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