Students declare war on tuition fee ‘pledge breakers’ with targeted election campaign
The National union of Students has come out fighting as the general election campaign heats up with a direct campaign to unseat Liberal Democrat ‘pledge breakers’ who failed to honour a 2010 manifesto commitment to scrap tuition fees.
Opening with the line ‘Broken pledges leave a permanent mark’, the poster campaign depicts two clenched fists with the words ‘Liar, liar’ tattooed across the fingers, complete with a Liberal Democrat party badge for the avoidance of doubt.
It goes on to say: “They pledged to scrap tuition fees. They lied. Make your own permanent mark. Vote against the pledge breakers.”
NUS president,Toni Pearce said: “Id like to say directly to Nick Clegg that your apology won't cover any of the £40,000 debt that students will graduate with for the first time this summer.
"They pledged to scrap tuition fees - they lied. We won't let them trade lies for power again. We represent seven million students and are urging every single one across the country to vote against broken pledges."
Seeking to mobilise student support the campaign will feature advertising vans, billboards and newspaper adverts and will directly target 28 Liberal Democrat MPs; including Nick Clegg, David Laws and Vince Cable. Two Conservative MPs will also find themselves in the NUS’ sights.
21 other Lib Dems who did vote against the increase will not be targeted.