More MPs warn Coalition they will rebel on crunch fees vote

Exhibitionist: art students interrupted the Turner Prize ceremony at Tate Britain to protest against the fees rise

Nick Clegg and David Cameron were this afternoon facing growing revolts among their MPs over tuition fees.

At least three junior members of the Government — two Liberal Democrats and one Conservative —are understood to be planning not to back the trebling of tuition fees to up to £9,000.

As Mr Clegg faced a crunch meeting with his MPs this afternoon, security at Westminster was tightened ahead of two days of student protests which could spiral into fresh violence.

Extra searches were being carried out to stop student demonstrators or their sympathisers smuggling potential weapons into Parliament.

Inside Westminster, Mr Clegg was launching a last-ditch effort to stop his party being split by bitter divisions.

He is insisting that the new funding policy would be fairer than existing arrangements with more help for poorer families through moves to make universities "more effective engines of social mobility".

But he has yet to persuade dozens of his MPs to support the university funding shake-up and Lib-Dem MP Jenny Willott, parliamentary private secretary to Energy Secretary Chris Huhne, this afternoon said she would not be voting for the proposed rise.

She said: "I don't agree with the policy. I've said all along there's no way I'm supporting it but I haven't decided what to do yet."

Lib-Dem MP Mike Crockart, PPS to Scottish Secretary Michael Moore, has also said he will not vote for the increase.

While Lee Scott, Conservative MP for Ilford North and PPS to Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, is also understood to be sticking to his past pledge not to support the proposed fee hike.

At least two Lib-Dem ministers, Norman Baker and Lynne Featherstone, are also understood to not yet have been convinced to back the Government in the crunch vote.

MPs in the Government would almost certainly have to resign if they voted against the funding shake-up but they may be able to avoid quitting by abstaining.

Among the Conservative ranks, at least five MPs, including three in London, are believed to be considering refusing to back the higher education funding reforms.

Bob Blackman, Tory MP for Harrow East, was also still undecided over whether to vote with the Government or abstain.

He said: "My key concern in all of this is the people who are ordinary income families in London who may be deterred from going to university because of the higher tuition fees."

Labour today published figures claiming that London universities will lose nearly £470 million from the cuts in higher education central funding as part of the move to higher tuition fees.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in