Lib Dems were planning to abandon fees pledge even before election.

[Mr Angry]

So say papers unearthed by the Grauniad.

A rather interesting, if predictable, development which will cause ill feeling among Lib Dem backbenchers and certain elements of the electorate alike.

It has never paid to put your faith in politicians..even the more liberal ones because eventually power corrupts...

[Mr Angry]

Sadly very true Maggy, very true.

was this not a contingency plan in case of a hung parliament ,if the libdems had taken power on their own would they have stuck to the original pledge ?

[nomadking]

Or is/was it reality finally setting in?

Originally Posted by nomadking

Or is/was it reality finally setting in?

a bit of both i think ,the only question is the timeline ,these plans were being drawn up in march ,well before he went on utube pledging to scrap them

[Mr Angry]

Originally Posted by martyh

was this not a contingency plan in case of a hung parliament ,if the libdems had taken power on their own would they have stuck to the original pledge ?

That we'll never know.

The issue here appears to be, coalition or not, that Nick Clegg was sending out signals and giving pledges which he knew (at least a month in advance of doing so) that he would politically, if not fiscally, be unable to honour.

EDIT:

Sorry Martyh, bit of a cross post there on my part.

[papa smurf]

this will not go down well with student voters ,many of them voted for the first time in the Election ,it seems that they had their vote stolen by a bunch of snake oil salesmen .

Really??

[frogstamper]

I doubt very much that if there is a by-election in Phil Woolas's seat in Oldham that the LD's will get anywhere near the share of the vote they achieved at the GE.
I think most people appreciate that in a coalition compromise is at the heart of any agreement, the problem as I see it is that the LD's Clegg in particular, seem to be going back on what got them their seats in the first place.
First it was the economy where Clegg said Cameron's plan to cut the deficit so fast was reckless, then surprise surprise he gets the offer of a government post and some real power for a change and he suddenly has an economic epiphany and changes his mind.
In my opinion you can't trust any of them whatever party they represent, once they have your vote you become a hindrance to them, that is until the next election.
What sort of democracy have we got when all three main parties get elected on manifesto promises which they all break once in office?
As far as I'm concerned a plague on all their houses.

Well I can understand when so few of the electorate bother voting.Eventually your faith breaks that there are any honest politicians and working out whom is being truthful isn't as clear cut as it seems.