National demonstrations in London are called for by student groups and campaigns. The co-chair of the Young Greens Cliff Fleming calls for “an open, accessible, free education system that supports those from all backgrounds”.
Students rally at Westminister in 2010 against spending cuts to further education and an increase in tuition fees. Photograph courtesy of Billy Hicks.
A coalition of student groups and campaigns – including the Student Assembly Against Austerity, the Young Greens and the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts – have called for a national demonstration in central London to protest against the increasingly desperate financial plight of the nation’s students.
The demonstration is being supported by the London Green Party which is echoing the student campaigners’ calls for an end to tuition fees.
Savage tuition fees hikes and a reduction in benefits has meant that access to higher education is increasingly being reserved for only financially better off students.
Clifford Fleming, Co-Chair of the Young Greens, said “We are tired of being marginalised by Westminster. With threats to cut young people’s benefits from both the Conservatives and the Labour Party, it’s time for a full-scale fight-back. Years of tuition fees have lumbered millions with debt, and the system isn’t working. We need an open, accessible, free education system that supports those from all backgrounds.”
The tuition fees cap has more than tripled under the Coalition Government with the average student debt now around £44,000.
The Green Party is the only UK political party calling for an end to tuition fees. Under a Green government there would be no student loans as there would be no tuition fees and living costs would be met by Citizen’s Income.
The demonstration will take place under the banner of ‘FREE EDUCATION: NO FEES. NO CUTS. NO DEBT’ in central London on November 19 2014. Join the event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1438512509748733/
For more information please contact zoe.hall@greenparty.org.uk or 0207 549 0315