4 Responses

1. Danny Hughes says:

   April 1, 2015 at 8:43 am

   Although , in the main, I have always voted for your party in the local elections, I’m not sure I trust the party after the leadership’s failure to keep to their pre-election pledges to the students last election.

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   • allanbrame says:

     April 8, 2015 at 2:19 pm

     In fairness, our top pledges on the front page of the 2010 manifesto were largely delivered – principally the raising of the tax threshold. Conservatives at the time said it couldn’t be afforded, but we stuck to our guns. Similarly this is one of our top 5 pledges this time around.
     The student fee promise backdown has been widely acknowledged by my party as an error, but it was tucked away on page 32 (if I recall correctly) of the 2010 manifesto. In a coalition, parties do have to compromise, and it is not easy for a party with 8% of the seats to win every argument – even if that was based on 24% of the vote.

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2. Sandra Simmons says:

   April 8, 2015 at 1:30 pm

   Can you please explain for me how this amount you quote is possible for your party within a co-alition government? The aspiration is good, the reality may be different which worries me.

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   • allanbrame says:

     April 8, 2015 at 2:14 pm

     This problem applies to any of the parties’ aspirations at the moment, as it looks very unlikely that any single party will gain an overall mandate. I see the Conservatives were making some noises about finding the funding yesterday.
     It will all come down to negotiation – and if the Lib Dems are involved again, this is one of our top 5 pledges on the front of the manifesto

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