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Students protest at Nick Clegg's office - plus London demo VIDEO
AROUND 200 students gathered near Nick Clegg's constituency office in Sheffield on Tuesday in a protest against planned rises in tuition fees.
For full report, reaction, photos and more, see The Star tomorrow.
The protesters gathered behind barriers the police put up about 30m from the Deputy Prime Minister's office.
About 30 officers stood between the crowd and the office in the upmarket Fulwood area of the city.
Dozens more police were in reserve in surrounding streets, some carrying riot gear.
As the demonstrators arrived, after marching from the city centre, there was a half-hearted attempt to break through the barrier the police had erected to close the road outside the Lib Dem office.
But those involved were easily pushed back by a couple of community officers.
The police ignored the occasional snowball.
Heavy snow continued as the demonstrators kept up a series of chants.
VIDEO: Meanwhile central London was brought to a standstill as students carried out a short rally in Trafalgar Square and dispersed throughout Westminster blocking traffic on some of the city's busiest roads - click the play button to watch our PA gwalkervideo report.
Nick Clegg today mounted a staunch defence of the Government's stance on tuition fees but refused to confirm whether he would vote in support of the policy.
The Deputy Prime Minister faced repeated questioning on the issue in the Commons as protesting students again took to the streets around Parliament.
Mr Clegg told MPs "all graduates will pay less per month" under the Government's proposals than under the regime inherited from Labour.
Business Secretary Vince Cable, the minister responsible for the policy, said today he would abstain in a key vote on the Government's policy if that is what fellow Liberal Democrat MPs decide to do as a group.
But Mr Clegg refused to be drawn on what his position would be during his regular session of questions in the Commons.
Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman said it would be a "cop out" to abstain on the vote.
Mr Clegg had pleaded for a more reasonable tone of debate on coalition politics, telling MPs "only the backward looking" Labour MPs "regard every compromise as a betrayal".
Ms Harman picked up on his "betrayal" remark, saying: "Speaking of which, isn't the effectiveness of coalition government a question of substance?
"And on the substantive coalition policy of tuition fees the House will want to know how you, as Deputy Prime Minister, are going to vote.
"Are you going to vote for, are you going to abstain or are you going to vote against it, as we are?"
Mr Clegg said Labour had refused to explain its policy on the issue, asking: "Is it a blank sheet of paper, is it a graduate tax or not?"
He added: "The proposal we are putting forward - we have a plan, they have a blank sheet of paper - is fairer for students than the system we inherited from the Labour government."
Ms Harman told him Labour would oppose the trebling of fees to 9,000 but said Mr Clegg would not say what he was going to do.
"If you vote against, that's the only principled position. If you abstain, it's a cop out, if you vote for it's a sell out.
"Which is it?"
Mr Clegg told her under the coalition's plans a care worker on 21,000 would pay back 7 a month on average, compared with 81 under the current scheme or 36 under a graduate tax.
Following Mr Cable's comments, shadow justice minister Chris Bryant questioned whether the convention of "collective responsibility" still applied.
He said the new ministerial code of conduct had an "extraordinary new phrase" stating that collective responsibility was expected "save where it is expressly set aside".
Mr Bryant questioned whether Mr Clegg was "man enough" to oppose the rise in fees as he pledged at the election.
Mr Clegg told him the coalition agreement, which allows Liberal Democrats to abstain if the policy on higher education funding is unacceptable to the party, was "very clear indeed".
Labour's John Mann (Bassetlaw) continued the attack, questioning Mr Clegg's integrity.
He asked: "A man tours the country telling people if they vote for him he'll abolish tuition fees. When he has the power he increases tuition fees.
"What's the best description of the integrity of such a man?"
Mr Clegg shot back: "This must be the same integrity which led the Labour Party to introduce fees having said they wouldn't in 1997; to introduce top-up fees having said they wouldn't in the 2001 manifesto and having commissioned the Browne review which they are now busily trashing."
He added: "The facts are that our proposal will remove any up-front fees whatsoever, including for the 40% of part-time students in our universities.
"The fact is that all graduates will pay less per month than they presently do under the scheme we inherited from Labour.
"The fact is that at least one in four of the lowest-paid graduates will pay less in total than they do now.
"That is a progressive package, theirs was not."
Labour's John Robertson (Glasgow NW) asked Mr Clegg: "If you had your time again, would you be for or against tuition fees?"
The Deputy Prime Minister told him: "I would be for a system which provides a fair settlement for students."
Got a view? Leave a comment below.
READ MORE: Snow stories round up Tuesday, November 30, 2010:
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Passenger dies in smash as snow brings road chaos
STREET CAMS: Keep an eye on Sheffield's snow covered roads - CCTV
Sheffield waste bin collections hit by snow
Your snow photos - PICTURE GALLERY
Snow brings Arctic conditions - VIDEO
Tuesday school snow closures - Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, Doncaster
SNOW: Airport closed, trains delayed and buses using main roads only
Paul Weller going ahead but Young Voices silenced at Arena
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Weather for Sheffield
Thursday 23 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 8 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: West
