Tuition fees bill passes with slim majority

Coalition’s majority cut from 84 to just 21.

The result is in: 323 MPs voted in favour of raising the cap on tuition fees from £3,290 to £9,000 a year, with 302 against.

That means the government’s majority was slashed from 84 to just 21 – easily the largest rebellion of this parliament.

But, as Vince Cable and others have pointed out, the majority was still four times larger than the one achieved by Tony Blair in the 2004 fees vote.

The Lib Dem rebels

In total, 21 Lib Dem MPs voted against the government, including two former party leaders, Menzies Campbell and Charles Kennedy, and the party president, Tim Farron. Here’s the full list:

Annette Brooke (Dorset Mid and Poole North)

Sir Menzies Campbell (Fife North East)

Michael Crockart (Edinburgh West)

Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale)

Andrew George (St Ives)

Mike Hancock (Portsmouth South)

Julian Huppert (Cambridge)

Charles Kennedy (Ross, Skye and Lochaber)

John Leech (Manchester Withington)

Stephen Lloyd (Eastbourne)

Greg Mulholland (Leeds North-West)

John Pugh (Southport)

Alan Reid (Argyll and Bute)

Dan Rogerson (Cornwall North)

Bob Russell (Colchester)

Adrian Sanders (Torbay)

Ian Swales (Redcar)

Mark Williams (Ceredigion)

Roger Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire)

Jenny Willott (Cardiff Central)

Simon Wright (Norwich South)

Eight Lib Dem MPs abstained, which means they still broke their election pledge to vote against higher fees. They were: Lorely Burt (Solihull), Martin Horwood (Cheltenham), Simon Hughes (Bermondsey and Old Southwark), Chris Huhne (Eastleigh), Tessa Munt (Wells), Sir Robert Smith (Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine), John Thurso (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) and Stephen Williams (Bristol West).

It’s worth noting that Huhne and Horwood were unable to vote because they were at the Cancún climate-change talks. As a cabinet minister, Huhne would have voted in favour of fees but Horwood was expected to vote against.

The Tory rebels

Six Tory MPs voted against the bill. They were:

Philip Davies (Shipley)

David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden)

Julian Lewis (New Forest East)

Jason McCartney (Colne Valley)

Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole)

Mark Reckless (Rochester and Strood)

It’s notable that none of the three Tory MPs (Ben Wallace, Lee Scott and Bob Blackman) who signed the NUS pledge to vote against higher fees kept his promise.