Liberal Democrat research has identified 14 seats where there are enough students to take them from second place to beat Labour, and 13 where they could go from second to beat the Tories. It is based on all students voting in their university rather than home constituencies.
The article identifies Leeds North West as being one of 14 Labour seats that the Lib Dems were hoping to win thanks to the student vote. And as predicted, Liberal Democrat Greg Mulholland was duly elected as the MP for Leeds North West in the 2005 General Election.
Now that the Lib Dems nationally are no longer promising to scrap tuition fees, perhaps their “Campaign Group for Student Constituencies” will be able to find new ways to persuade students to vote for them. This is a group set up by Mr Mulholland earlier this year with the message that the Liberal Democrat party “best represents university constituencies and the interests of students, academics and long-term residents alike” (2).
Perhaps as a prelude to this campaign, Mr Mulholland had a meeting with Leeds University student rep Rob Damiao where, according to Mr Damiao, a relationship was established which it’s hoped will result in more students voting at the next election. Since the Lib Dems claim to have far more student supporters at Leeds University than the other parties, they’ll no doubt be hoping that the majority of these extra voters will be voting Lib Dem (3).
References
Students can swing 27 seats say NUS – April 2005
Lib Dems form campaign group for student constituencies – March 2009
Student rep’s work update report – January 2009
Bill,
None of Hyde Park and Woodhouse ward will be in the Leeds North West constituency at the next general election so the boundrary changes referred to previously will not help Greg to get re-elected if more students vote. Of course the Lib Dems want more students to vote because we believe we have the best national policies for students like scrapping tuition fees. (Which we have not scrapped, as you assert. To scrap a policy like this it would have to be passed by a Lib Dem national conference, which it has not been. We will still have the policy to get rid of tuition fees in our next manifesto). We beleive we have the best national policies for all groups in society, not just students.
Chris, the reason I wrote the article was to highlight the fact that Lib Dem politicians in university constituencies are focussing on students, and to suggest that this stems from their concern that the students who previously voted for them because of the pledge to drop tuition fees, will no longer do so when that pledge is dropped.
I accept that no part of Hyde Park and Woodhouse will be in Greg Mulholland’s constituency at the next election, but many of Mr Mulholland’s constituents visit Woodhouse Moor, and these include students.
I didn’t actually say that the pledge to scrap tuition fees had been dropped. I said that there are plans to drop it. And as you can see from this recent article, the plans are progressing :
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/lib-dems-drop-student-fees-pledge-1757477.html
You said in the article ‘Now that the Lib Dems nationally are no longer promising to scrap tuition fees…’. This is not true, but it’s not really worth arguing about the detail.
The reason that Lib Dem MPs in university constituencies ‘focus on students’ is because they make up a large proportion of the electorate. In Leeds North West 23.5% of eligible voters are full time students (http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/guide/seat-profiles/leedsnorthwest). This doesn’t mean that the views students are given more prominence than those of long term residents. In fact in my experience the voters who respond well to the pledge on tuition fees (which, however often you assert otherwise, is still Lib Dem policy and likely to remain so) are overwhelmingly the parents of those who attend university just as much as the students themselves.
Do you beleive, as you seem to suggest, that Greg should ignore or downgrade the views of 23.5% of the people who live in his constituency?
Chris, the title of the article in the Independent is “Lib Dems drop student fees pledge”. If this is wrong, then I think you should get the Independent to print a retraction.
Whilst I don’t believe that Greg should ignore students, that’s not to say I think it’s right he should set up a campaign group devoted to them.
It’s quite wrong to focus on students. As a group, they’re neither persecuted nor underprivileged.
Bill, the Independent is wrong and I very much hope the party is trying to get them to print a retraction. As I mentioned before, Lib Dem policy must be agreed on by a Lib Dem conference, whatever the Independent or the party leadership say.
Greg has set up campaigns targeted to help every section of the community, both while he has been an MP and before. There is the ‘Support Wharfedale Hospital’ campaign in Otley, the ‘Save Our Post Offices’ campaign in Headingley, Adel and Bramhope, he has been involved in the HEART scheme in Headingley, campaigned against more pubs and student halls in Headingley and been involved in the campaign save historic buildings in Otley.
It is wrong to say that this campaign aimed at students comes at the expense of campaigns run for other sections of the community.
Chris, even though it may not yet be official party policy, there are clearly highly placed people within the Lib Dem party who wish to drop the pledge on student fees. This must be very worrying for MPs like Greg who rely on the student vote and it would explain why he launched the “Campaign Group for Student Constituencies” But campaigning to save the student vote is not the same as campaigning to save post offices and historic buildings. And if it involves making it easier for students to vote regardless of everyone else, then it quite definitely is being done at the expense of other sections of the community.