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use your vote
WhO Shall I
VOTE
FOR IN THIS
GENERAL
ELECTION?
THE FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IS CURRENTLY UNDER REVIEW. Ahead of the General Election, NUS is putting pressure on parliamentary candidates to vote against a rise in university fees in the next parliament. If the Government raises university fees to £5,000 a year, the average student debt will rise to £29,000. If they raise fees to £7,000, it will be £35,000. You can help us prevent this by using your vote for students. We are asking you to vote for a candidate who pledges to support students on this issue: we are asking you and candidates to Vote For Students.
VOTE AND STOP THE RISE IN FEES AND STUDENT DEBT: VOTE FOR STUDENTS Sign up at www.voteforstudents.co.uk to protect higher education and our future.
www.voteforstudents.co.uk You need to be registered to vote in order to vote in the General Election. More information on this can be found at www.voteforstudents.co.uk
General Election 2010 On May 6th the polls will open for one of the most unpredictable elections in recent history. The three majority parties have been battling it out on national television to win the hearts and minds of the electorate.
There are approximately 60,000 students in Nottingham. Across the country students hold almost 15% of the vote; let’s make sure the parties know that we are engaged, that we are interested. That we will use our votes. This short guide produced by your SU is designed to help you make sense of the parties and to use your vote wisely.
A word on tuition fees The Browne review is currently under way; this is the panel that will make recommendations on the future of higher education and tuition fees, making it easy for parties to “wait” for its results and hide from coming clean on where they really stand on this. On the next page you’ll find a list of the Nottingham candidates (including those for you guys on SB!) who have signed NUS’ pledge (see pink page opposite for explanation) to say that they will vote against any rise in tuition fees, and the naughty ones who haven’t! If you’re not sure what constituency you live in, enter your postcode at http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ and it’ll tell you. Then, check out which candidates haven’t signed and email them! NUS allows you to do this in three simple steps, check it out: http://www.nus.org.uk/en/Campaigns/ General-Election-2010/3-easy-steps-to-help-fight-a-risein-university-fees/ Let’s get all these candidates to take the student vote seriously, and lobby them to sign NUS’ pledge...if they won’t vote for us, why should we vote for them! Keep signing up on www.voteforstudents.co.uk - the more people we sign up, the more powerful our voices are. In unity,
Your SU Exec www.voteforstudents.co.uk
So! Here’s the good guys - local candidates who have signed the pledge as of 20th April. We looked at candidates from the following constituencies: Nottingham North Nottingham South (Lenton) Rushcliffe (SB) Broxtowe (Beeston) Boston and Skegness Martin Curtis Nottingham North Conservative Tim Ball Nottingham North Liberal Democrats Matthew Butcher Nottingham South Green Party Lilian Greenwood Nottingham South Labour Party Tony Sutton Nottingham South Liberal Democrats G. Richard Mallender Rushcliffe Green Party Andy Clayworth Rushcliffe Labour Party Karrar Khan Rushcliffe Liberal Democrats
Grantham & Stamford Mansfield Lincoln Derby North Derby South
Nick Palmer MP Broxtowe Labour Party David Watts Broxtowe Liberal Democrats Harrish Bisnauthsing Grantham & Stamford Liberal Democrats Reg Shore Lincoln Liberal Democrats Lucy Care Derby North Liberal Democrats David Geraghty Derby North ( Pirate Party UK) David Batey Derby South Liberal Democrats
On 26/04/2010 the sign ups to the pledge are as follows – Conservative Party- 13 Green Party- 252 Labour Party- 204 Liberal Democrats- 430 UKIP- 228 There are also over 20 sign-ups from other parties, including the SNP and Plaid Cymru.
For a full list check out voteforstudents.co.uk where it will soon be published.
Please note, all of the ‘key priorities’ and ‘tuition fees’ sections for each party are as found on the BBC website. No edits have been made. For a full list of candidates in each constituency see your electoral registration website.
Party Profiles:
The majority parties are listed below in alphabetical order.
Key priorities:
Aim to eliminate “the bulk” of the UK’s structural deficit within five years beginning in 2010 with £6bn in cuts; spending cuts in all areas apart from health and foreign aid; allow charities, trusts, voluntary groups and co-operatives to set up new Academy schools, independent of local authority control, and to run other public services; create a Pupil Premium, giving more money to schools that teach the poorest children; scrap identity card scheme; recognise marriage in the tax system by allowing adults who are married or in a civil partnership to transfer up to £750 of their tax-free personal allowance to their spouse, as long as the higher-income member of the couple is a basic-rate taxpayer; scrap Labours planned 1% national insurance rise for people earning less than £35,000; raise Inheritance Tax threshold to 1m; set an annual limit for non-EU economic migrants.
Tuition Fees:
give bonuses for early repayment of student loans; consider forthcoming findings of Browne Review of higher education funding
Green Party Key priorities:
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2030; £45bn investment in renewables, smart metering and a smart grid; replace tax-free allowances and most social security benefits with a “Citizen’s Income” available to all; devolve powers from Westminster to local councils; draw up written constitution, including a Bill of Rights; proportional representation for all elections.
Tuition fees:
Abolish tuition fees and provide students with grants for living expenses.
Key Priorities:
“Targeted” increase in public spending over the next year to “sustain the recovery”, before cutting the deficit by more than 50% by 2014 and reducing the structural deficit by at least two-thirds over the next parliament; hold a referendum on adopting the Alternative Vote system for Westminster elections and making the House of Lords fully elected by October 2011 ensure all people who suspect they have cancer get test results within one week; restore the link between the state pension and earnings from 2012; protect “frontline investment” in childcare, schools, the NHS and policing; guarantee a place in education or training for all 16 and 17 year olds; guarantee people aged 18-24 a job, work experience or training place if they are unemployed for more than six months; give parents of one- and two-year-olds an extra £4 a week in Child Tax Credit for each child from 2012;
Tuition fees:
retain tuition fees for higher education, and consider Lord Browne’s forthcoming higher education funding review.
Key priorities:
Identify and cut £15bn of lower priority spending per year to protect front-line services while reducing structural deficit at least as fast as Labour plans, beginning in 2011; raise the threshold at which people start paying income tax from £6,475 to £10,000; impose “mansion tax” on the value of properties over £2m and increase capital gains tax to bring it into line with income tax; introduce a banking levy until such time as banks’ retail and investment arms can be separated; replace the Council Tax with a Local Income Tax after a pilot phase; introduce a written constitution and single transferable vote (STV) system for all UK elections; allow voters to force a by-election for any MP found responsible for “serious wrongdoing”. scrap identity card scheme; provide £2.5bn for a “Pupil Premium” for schools teaching the poorest pupils,allowing average primary school class sizes to be cut to 20;
Tuition fees:
Scrap the target of 50% of young people attending university; scrap university tuition fees over six years
Thank you for taking the time to read this short guide – we hope it helps you make a more informed decision about the General Election 2010.
Remember to vote on May 6th (Whoever you decide to vote for!)
ww w.v o t e f o r s t u d e n t s. c o. u k
use r u o y e t o v Don’t forget if you live in halls you were automatically registered to vote and your polling station is Portland for students on University Park Campus. Make sure to check your polling card for details on how and where to vote. Polls open: Monday May 6th, 7am to 10pm So, why not check out the party leaders’ videos to students at su.nottingham.ac.uk/debtonate and get in touch if you want to get more involved in this campaign or have ideas for any others. All our details can be found at:
su.nottingham.ac.uk
s u . n o t t i n g h a m . ac.uk