Fresh May 2010
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Page 22 All you need to know on the back page
Hung, Drawn and Quartered Putney remains Tory as Parliament is hung.
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nowing full well that we’d be sending this, our last issue of Fresh of the year, off to print on the evening of May 7th, we decided not to half-analyse whatever results fell to us overnight or by Friday morning, but instead recruit Becca Newton to blog throughout the night…. Thursday 6th of May 2010 Midnight in the Belfry and seats are as hard to find in here as in Westminster! So far some results have come through from Sunderland making them the first constituency to announce their count for the sixth year in a row. Rumour has it that the Green party have won their first seat down in Brighton. 1am - In Putney, Justine Greening has kept her seat for the Conservatives with 21,223 votes, with Labour and the Liberal Democrats trailing on 11,170 and 6,907 respectively. 1:30 am - Gordon Brown holds his seat in his home constituency of Kirkcaldy. News Just In: Up and down the country, predominantly in Sheffield; hundreds of voters have been turned away from the polls unable to vote due to understaffing. An influx of first time student voters from the universities are being blamed. NUS have issued a statement condemning polling stations, amid claims that in Sheffield, students were put in a separate queue from local ‘residents’. 2 am- In Exeter Labour lead with almost 20,000 votes. In Glasgow East Labour win with a landslide of 19,000 with the Tories gaining only 1,000 votes. 2:30 am - In Wales the overall turn out has been an impressive 69% with Conservatives winning a seat from the Liberal Democrats in Montgomeryshire. I’m slowly realizing I don’t know where half these places are on the map of Britain! Another Conservative win this time in Leicestershire. 2:55am - I’ve decided will power isn’t going to be enough and have just bought a very strong coffee! 3 am - The legend Gary Coates has just unfolded a sofa into a bed. Bed and Belfry at the same time! It’s every Digby student’s dream come true! 3:15 am - Cameron has retained his seat in his constituency. 3:30 am - Alistair Darling has been re-elected with 19,472 votes as Labour chancellor. Feeling a bit knackered now! 3:50 am - Wow Conservatives have just taken the lead for the first time with 101 seats. 3:55 am - Conservatives have jumped to 128 seats, Labour 112. 4:15 am - Last post before bed, Conservatives are on 174, Labour; 135. Looks like a hung parliament folks! Friday 7th of May 2010. 12am - I’ve woken up to an unsurprising Conservative majority of 304 seats and a hung parliament. Not the best way to start a Friday! So what does this mean for the government? A Hung Parliament: Is where no one party has the majority of seats; meaning that whichever party is in power will not be able to pas laws without the support of other parties within Parliament. A party needs a majority of 326 seats to win. Both David Cameron and Gordon Brown can attempt to set up a coalition government whereby the Liberal Democrats will be asked to work with and support either party. If the Conservative party form a coalition government and David Cameron becomes our next Prime Minister what will this mean for Roehampton and its Students?
The Conservative manifesto states that it’s government will: •Provide 10,000 extra university places in 2010; •Introduce an early repayment bonus on student loans which are repaid ahead of schedule; •Work to improve the way that universities are funded so that researchers get the funding they need; •Create an extra 100,000 apprenticeships and preapprenticeships each year; •Give small and medium businesses a £2,000 bonus for every new apprentice they hire, and make it much easier for firms to run apprenticeships; •Provide an extra 100,000 college places over two years so unemployed young people can improve their skills; •Offer much better careers advice, including providing expert advice in every secondary school and college and setting up a new careers service for adults. •Delay the implementation of the new funding system for universities – the Research Excellence Framework – and work with academics to ensure that there is a robust and acceptable way of measuring the impact of all research. If the Labour Party manage to form a coalition or establish a minority government what will this mean for Roehampton and its Students? The Labour manifesto states that it’s government will: •In order to boost social mobility we will ask universities to consider the educational background of young people in deciding on admissions as a way of better assessing their aptitude and potential •We will promote a greater element of competition between universities that gives greater priority to programmes that meet the need for high level skills and we will urge business to be more engaged in the funding and design of programmes, sponsorship of students, and offering work placements. •We will strengthen the research capacity of our universities by promoting greater concentrations of world-class research, especially in the high cost scientific disciplines. Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats, who have the deciding sway, have a manifesto which states to: • Ensure children get the individual attention they need by cutting class sizes (Pupil Premium). To give every child a fair start in life, the Liberal Democrats will • Spend an extra £2.5bn on schools • Scrap Tuition fees by phasing them out over a six year period • The Liberal Democrats are the only party which believes • university education should be free and admissions based on ability not bank balance. • The Liberal Democrats believe that all schools should be free from meddling politicians to work in creative and interesting ways to make sure every child gets a fair start in life. We will slim down the curriculum and pass an Education Freedom Act banning politicians from getting involved in the day to day running of schools. Whatever the outcome parties have positives and negatives in their plans for students. Whichever way, things are going to get alot tougher in order to combat the financial deficit in Britain and the global economic climate. All we can do is to put our trust in the MPs who signed the NUS pledge and continue to make our voices heard against Top-up fees(See NUS website: http://bit.ly/aXRkM9) Becca Newton
Campaigns:
We look at the debate surrounding the minimum pricing of Alcohol
Page 18 This issue of Fresh was printed on recycled paper. Please make sure you re-use/recycle it too, or at least leave it aside for someone else to read later. All content is available online at www.roehampton.ac.uk