In the next couple of weeks the Quebec government will decide whether to give $58 million financing to an anonymous consortium of foreign investors to open the Jeffrey mine to export 5 million tonnes of asbestos to Asia over the next quarter century. Tony has joined the fight to stop this mine and is pictured at Downing Street with other campaigners. Supporters are sending fax messages to Premier Charest.

You can follow the progress of the Postal Services Bill 2010 here.

Tony Lloyd MP is a supporter of the Labour Students Stand up for Students campaign against higher education cuts and £9,000 tuition fees. Tony recently showed his support by adding his signature to a letter to Vince Cable MP:

Dear Vince,

MAKE FUNDING FAIR – JUST LIKE YOU PROMISED

We are dismayed to hear that the Browne Review has recommended massive increases in student tuition fees to fund higher education. We believe that increased top-up fees are the wrong way to fund higher education and are deeply concerned that any further fee increases will lead to future generations of students being burdened with massive debts, as well as leading to the creation of a market in higher education that would see those from the poorest backgrounds priced out of the best universities.

Before the General Election every Lib Dem MP, including you and Nick Clegg, signed a pledge promising to vote against any increase in tuition fees. Now it seems that you and your colleagues have betrayed students with a massive u-turn by agreeing to abstain while the Tories vote through this monumental tuition fee hike. We’re asking you now, will you stand by your promise to vote against any increase in tuition fees? Or will you betray the thousands of students who voted for you and your party based on this promise?

Universities across the country are also about to be hit with a wave of devastating cuts of between 25-40%. If these cuts are implemented, universities will be left with a funding gap of £4.1-6.6billion. It is not fair or progressive for you and the Lib Dems to try and mask these cuts by increasing tuition fees and leaving students to foot the bill for this ideological attack on university spending. How can you justify making these savage cuts to the higher education sector when it is already suffering from a lack of funding? And when these cuts take affect, how are you going to protect students and prospective students from the impact they will have? When there are fewer places at university available, fewer staff to teach and resources to learn from at these universities and fewer contact hours for students at universities, people will point the finger of responsibility at you Vince.

The future of higher education in the UK is going to be affected dramatically by the decisions you and your government make in the coming weeks. You can choose to adopt a fairer funding system for higher education and protect the higher education from deep cuts that will damage our international reputation in the sector. Or you can agree to the Browne Review’s recommendations to drastically increase tuition fees, condemn the students of tomorrow to a massive debt burden and sign up to a draconian cuts package that will set higher education in this country back a generation.

Hundreds of thousands of students are relying on you to do the right thing. Please don’t let us down.