Students hit rising tuition

Workers World, 13 November 1997

Labor Party Prime Minister Tony Blair was elected on May 1 after campaigning for education, education, and education. Now, his plan to add a $1,600 fee to university tuition has brought tens of thousands of students into the streets.

On Nov. 1, students held rallies at 14 cities across Britain. Between 2,500 and 5,000 attended each rally. Diane Abbot, a Labor member of Parliament, was booed as she took the stage in Trafalgar Square in London. But the boos turned to cheers as she came out against the Blair government policy.

Education has to be funded and it has to be supported by the government, otherwise we might as well pack up and go home, declared Sally Hunt, assistant general secretary of the Association of University Teachers.

Simon Webber, national secretary of the National Union of Students, called the proposed tuition fees a time bomb sitting under the government.