Students vow to sack fee traitors

In a mass march through the wind and rain in London students from all over Britain told politicians that education is a right, not a privilege.

Student leaders said that it was the first step on the road to the 2015 election, where they want young adults to punish MPs who broke their promise to leave fees alone.

National Union of Students (NUS) vice-president for higher education Rachel Wenstone told the Star: "We need to prove to politicians that we can bring out the student vote like we did in 2010, and we need to prove our vote matters and they can't rip us off."

She said it was just as important to win over the parents of school pupils headed towards thousands of pounds worth of debt.

A new NUS survey showed that 50 per cent of parents think MPs who broke their fees promise should resign.

NUS president Liam Burns said these people want "Nick Clegg and every other MP who broke the pledge to go before they can do any more harm."

Lecturers' union UCU president president Kathy Taylor pointed out that the coalition is a government for the rich.

In its first year "the richest 1,000 people in Britain increased their collective wealth by 18 per cent," she told the crowds in Kennington Park.

Ms Taylor said that ministers had dumped a milllion more children into poverty and then tried to cover it up by changing the way poverty is measured.

"Students and staff need to keep up the fight against the government's pernicious policies."

Author and activist Owen Jones warned marchers that the Tories and Lib Dems using a "divide and rule" strategy to force through their brutal cuts.

Earlier in the day some demonstrators tried to get through the barriers and rows of police in Westminster and a group later stormed the stage during Mr Burns's speech, ending the rally.

The police said that today's march was diverted away from the area after the events of two years ago, when students took their grievances to the Conservative Party's Millbank headquarters.