Video: Clegg seeks to paper over party cracks on tuition fee increase

Yorkshire MP Greg Mulholland added to the pressure facing the Deputy Prime Minister yesterday by tabling a motion calling for a public consultation to be carried out before any decision on student fees is made.

The Leeds North West Lib Dem MP warned that trebling fees to 9,000 was unacceptable to many in the party which had campaigned for the charges to be abolished before the election.

Some members of the Government, including Transport Minister Norman Baker, appeared willing to quit rather than back the controversial proposals.

And senior Tory David Davis will vote against the rise in fees, his office said last night.

The former shadow home secretary, who stood against David Cameron for the Conservative leadership in 2005, will rebel over the coalition's policy.

But the Haltemprice and Howden MP did not expect many other Tory MPs to be in the no lobby with him on Thursday, telling Sky News: "I suspect I am a rebellion of one."

Mr Clegg will hold a crunch meeting with his parliamentary party tonight to urge them to present a united front.

Lib Dem grandee Lord Ashdown has also appealed for MPs not to breach the coalition agreement by voting against the plans, while Downing Street has warned that Ministers are still subject to the principle of collective responsibility.

However, there were signs that opposition within the party was hardening despite efforts to strike a deal.

Mr Baker said: "There are three options and, to be honest with you, I genuinely haven't decided. (Voting no is] an option if you resign. There are three options on the table and I haven't yet decided what I'm going to do."

Mr Clegg and Business Secretary Vince Cable have publicly stated that they want to vote for the package, which trebles the maximum annual charge to 9,000, although the idea of a mass abstention as allowed under the coalition agreement with the Conservatives has been floated.

Party president Tim Farron and former leaders Charles Kennedy and Sir Menzies Campbell are believed to be among those determined to join Labour in the No lobby.

Mr Mulholland said: "This policy is not in the spirit of the coalition agreement.

"A trebling of tuition fees a lot of us simply cannot and will not accept. I'm saying to the Government they really need to think again."

Former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown defended Mr Clegg's handling of the row. He said: "Although there is a commitment that has been made during the election, there is another agreement we have to stick to which is the coalition agreement. That says at the very least you will abstain on this, vote for it if you can."

Ministers yesterday tried to shore up support for the university funding package by unveiling 150m of help, which could see fees waived for one or

two years for 18,000 of the poorest students. National Union of Students president Aaron Porter said that the support paled in comparison to the 500m being cut

from the Educational Maintenance Allowance for sixth-formers from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Shadow Business Secretary John Denham said that the move amounted to an admission that higher fees will put poorer students off university.

The plans to increase tuition fees have sparked a series of angry student demonstrations across the country, including Leeds and Sheffield.

Government Loans agency slammed

THE performance of the Government agency set up to deliver grants and loans to students was "completely unacceptable" last year and the improvement since then has been disappointing, a scathing MPs' report said.

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it was "disappointed and concerned" that no officials appeared to have been held to account for the way in which the Student Loans Company let down undergraduates in 2009.

Committee chairman Margaret Hodge said there needed to be a "step change" in the company's performance if it was to deliver the "substantially better" service to which students are entitled.

The company – which is an arm's length public body overseen by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills – has taken over responsibility from local councils for delivering grants and loans in England. In 2009, when it handled only applications from new students, it took a third longer on average to process them than local authorities had done the previous year, according to the PAC report. By the start of term, fewer than half were fully processed.

Comment: Page 10.