Tuition Fees: would the Coalition hang on in the East of England?

It wasn't a huge surprise that the East of England would debate tuition fees, especially with such an august university just down the road (I refer, of course, to the University of East Anglia...).

Under the careful eyes of session Chair, Susan Gaszczak and her trusty aide (that would be me), the debate was carefully balanced, but with Norman Lamb speaking against, as well as, somewhat unexpectedly, Andrew Phillips (the Chancellor of the University of Essex), it was always likely to be close run.

And so it turned out. The movers spoke passionately of the tuition fees pledge that so many of our Parliamentary candidates signed, noting that two of the Region's four MPs, Julian Huppert and Bob Russell, were pledged to vote against tuition fee rises in any future vote. Indeed, Julian has signed the pledge again, just to emphasise his opposition. They felt that, in order to restore trust in politicians, we had to remain true to our word, a very strong, very emotive argument.

In response, there were concerns about mandating MPs - quite legitimate - and one delegate noted that the 50% target for young people getting into university was itself a nonsense. With Andrew Phillips noting a series of proposals that would address issues of access for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, I sensed that Conference might be having second thoughts about taking a stance against the Parliamentary Party.

The debate ebbed and flowed, before we got to a vote. It was close, far too close to call. A counted vote was called for from the Chair, the East of England's first for many a year, and with the aid of the stewards, we had a result. By thirty-eight votes to thirty-seven, the motion had fallen. We waited, and waited, in the expectation of calls for a recount, which never came...

And so came a little succour for the Coalition. Nothing to build their hopes too high, I accept, but possibly a glimmer of hope that, if push came to shove, they might survive a more formal debate...