Today, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Simon Hughes stated his belief that the Government would deliver equality in marriage rights for couples regardless of gender before the end of this Parliament.

You can see the full interview and video here: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/07/19/deputy-lib-dem-leader-simon-hughes-says-government-will-allow-gay-couples-to-marry/

Simon Hughes’ call comes after Liberal Youth Scotland managed to pass support for the Equal Marriage Campaign into Scottish Liberal Democrat policy in March of this year. The motion was overwhelmingly passed, and supported by leading party figures, including Scottish leader Tavish Scott.

Simon Hughes said: “It would be appropriate in Britain in 2010, 2011, for there to be the ability for civil marriage for straight people and gay people equally.”

Watch Simon Hughes’ full response to the question of Equal Marriage:

In a major speech today, Business Secretary Dr. Vince Cable announced his support for moving away from the tuition fees system, towards a graduate tax.

Commenting,President of Liberal Youth Scotland Kristian Chapman said: “Liberal Youth Scotland has campaigned extensively on the issue of tuition fees supporting our colleagues south of the border and we will continue to do so until tuition fees are abolished in England, just as the Scottish Liberal Democrats achieved in Holyrood.

Moving to a graduate tax system helps to reduce the financial barriers to young people entering higher education, and will allow more young people to achieve their full potential.

Of course this does not apply to the thousands of Scottish students let down by the SNP’s promise to “dump student debt” that has never materialised, but it will make a difference for English students studying in Scotland, as any increase in tuition fees would have had to mean an increase for these students too.”

Chair of Liberal Youth Martin Shapland said:

“I am pleased to hear of the Business Secretary’s suggestions to move towards a fairer system to pay for higher education.

The devil is in the detail, and I trust that this will be viewed as an interim step towards realising our long term policy and we will be seeking those assurances at Autumn Conference.

While today’s speech will provide little comfort to the millions of students let down by Labour, I am proud that Liberal Democrat Ministers are taking the lead in ending this regressive policy”

The following is a message from Liberal Youth Chair Alan Belmore, regarding the coalition agreement and this Sunday’s special conference:

“The last few days has been historic both for our party and for the country. Our views and policies will now represented at every level Government and that is something we can all take pride in.But the coalition deal between the Liberal Democrats does not mean giving up some of the principles and policies that we have held and fought for over a number of years. For young and first time voters the Liberal Democrat commitment to remove University Tuition fees was one of the key reason we won those votes and that must not be forgotten.

Liberal Youth believe that given all 57 Liberal Democrat MPs rightly signed the NUS’ ‘Votes for Students’ pledge they must keep this promise. We feel strongly that when a vote on this issue takes place, Liberal Democrat MPs should be able to vote to uphold this pledge, not simply abstain as is suggested in the deal with the Conservatives. However, Liberal Youth does not believe that this should be considered as a vote of confidence in the new coalition government, but simply a free vote, the kind of which regularly occur in the House of Commons. Liberal Youth believe this to be such a key issue that we are tabling an amendment to the motion on the agreement for a coalition government at Liberal Democrat Special Conference on Sunday. Our proposed amendment reads as follows:

‘Conference expresses its concern that Liberal Democrat MPs who signed the ‘vote for students’ pledge may be unable to uphold this pledge under the abstention agreement on the Lord Browne report in the ‘Higher Education’ section of the agreement for a coalition government and expresses its hope that Liberal Democrat MPs can vote against any rise in the cap on tuition fees which isn’t index linked.

Conference calls upon Liberal Democrat MPs to ensure that on any decision made on the Lord Browne report, they above all else take into account the impact on student debt.

Conference affirms our aspiration to scrap tuition fees.

Conference also affirms that any vote on tuition fees should not be held as a vote of confidence in the government.

Liberal Youth are incredibly worried that a whole generation of young people from lower-income backgrounds will be shut out of university education all-together if we see even higher tuition fees. Therefore, Liberal Youth are asking you to support this amendment, to reaffirm our stance on tuition fees, and force our ministers to fight for lower fees in the cabinet and allow our MPs to oppose such measures in the commons.’

If you are willing to come out and back the amendment, please sign the petition at http://www.tuitionfees.org.uk, so that we can create a real grass-roots campaign.

The full coalition agreement between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrat can be read here:

http://libdems.org.uk/latest_news_detail.aspx?title=Conservative_Liberal_Democrat_coalition_agreements&pPK=2697bcdc-7483-47a7-a517-7778979458ff

Many Thanks,

Alan Belmore
Chair of Liberal Youth”

Please log on to www.tuitionfees.org.uk and sign the petition backing the amendment.