Monday, December 08, 2003
Call my bluff
Will Labour MPs call Tony Blair's bluff and take their opposition to top-up fees right to the point of the Prime Minister's resignation? 157 MPs have now signed the early day motion against these fees including 17 or 18 Welsh Labour MPs. It only requires 82 to vote against this measure to defeat it. The Prime Minister has hinted that he will resign if he loses, yet I doubt he will need to fulfill that threat, though it will be close. I am sure that many of the rebels are signing the EDM so as to get concessions, others will abstain, but there will still be a significant number who will vote against. It certainly makes for interesting politics, but there is a serious issue at stake here. That issue is not the future of the Prime Minister but that of our higher education system. Let us hope that the rebels will prevail.
