Labour protest over tuition fees debate

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Labour MPs have spent more than three and a half hours complaining about the fact that they have been given five hours of debate tomorrow on the rise in tuition fees.

In a debate on Thursday's business, the shadow leader of the House said there has been one urgent question and one ministerial statement but no debate on the Browne report in government time.

Hilary Benn told MPs there is huge public interest in the matter and in light of that the time proposed is inadequate.

The change takes the form of a statutory instrument rather than primary legislation, so there will only be one chance to debate it.

In a series of points of order and interventions backbench Labour MPs vented the anger at the government's timetabling.

Benn said Labour would vote against the government motion approving the length of the debate.

Leader of the House George Young said the opposition did not raise any objections last Thursday when tomorrow's business was announced.

Benn said it has been clear.

"We want adequate time and we will vote against this tonight," he said.

Charlie Elphicke (Con, Dover) told Benn he "failed to spot this and has been asleep at the wheel".

Benn said Labour will be awake "when we troop through the lobbies".

He said the debate and vote are being arranged before the white paper has been published until the new year.

"The cart has truly been put before the horse," he said.

The SNP MP Pete Wishart said the government would be wrong to hold the vote on a Thursday afternoon in hope it will keep Northern Irish and Scottish MPs away.

Labour MPs complained that the government was willing to allow the debate on the length of the debate go on until any hour while truncating the fees itself.

Steve Mc Cabe (Lab, Birmingham Selly Oak) said the government is making it impossible for them to represent their constituents

Emily Thornberry (Lab, Islington South and Finsbury) said MPs should spend tonight and tomorrow debating tuition fees.

She added that five hours is not enough time for the Lib Dems to explain their four different positions on the issue.

Roberta Blackman-Woods (Lab, City of Durham) said the government are "running scared".

Nadhim Zahawi (Con, Stratford upon Avon) told Benn it was Labour that ended free education.

Benn said the "profound difference" was that the previous system was a way of raising additional finance for universities, while the "enormous reduction in funding that this increase in fees is based on

Naomi Long (Alliance, Belfast East) said the tuition fees rise has "profound effects on students from Northern Ireland and in Northern Ireland".

Yet the restricted time makes it unlikely she will be able to "make our case".

Penny Mordaunt (Con, Portsmouth North) said Labour' stance is "deeply ironic".

She told the House when she was president of Reading university union, "many members opposite would set the fire alarms off" rather than face students over tuition fees.

Gavin Shuker (Lab, Luton South) complained that younger members who already have student debt will not have time to put their perspective.

Tristram Hunt (Lab, Stoke on Trent Central) said it is a disgrace that just five hours of parliamentary time will be given to the "marketisation of our entire university system".

Nick Raynsford (Lab, Greenwich and Woolwich) compared the issue to the poll tax.

Several MPs complained that due to the weather, some of their constituents would take more than 12 hours to get to London to watch the debate and lobby their MPs, only for the whole process to last five hours.

Benn urged MPs to vote the programme motion down and suggested the debate be postponed.

Several Labour MPs sought advice from deputy Speaker Dawn Primarolo on how to table a manuscript amendment to extend tomorrow's debate.

She told them to consult the clerk or parliamentary rule book Erskine May.

Kerry McCarthy (Lab, Bristol East) told the House that she had consulted the Speaker's office and already 26 Labour MPs and "a lot more" from the government benches meant that more time was required.

Benn spent more than two and a half hours at the dispatch box and took scores of interventions, mostly from his own benches.

There were speeches from Labour MPs Paul Farrelly (Newcastle under Lyme), Thomas Docherty (Dunfermline and West Fife) and Kevan Jones (Durham North).

At 11pm government whips moved to end the debate. The House approved by 300 votes to 201.

MPs then voted to approve tomorrow's timetable by 305 to 202.