Schools target for Clegg polls drive

Mr Clegg will visit every school in his Sheffield Hallam constituency in an attempt to cut through Labour “mythology” and convince parents and teachers the package of measures allowing universities to raise tuition fees to £9,000 a year will be fairer for students.

Liberal Democrat leader Mr Clegg admits his party has been “insufficiently strong” at getting its message across, and has also accused Labour of putting off youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds from going to university through “cynical” attacks.

The Liberal Democrats go into May’s local elections in control of Sheffield and Hull councils but Mr Clegg admitted that unease over tough coalition measures to tackle the deficit means he is facing a “very tough” fight.

“There’s the mother of all battles brewing between the Liberal Democrats and Labour,” he told regional journalists. “At the moment it is very easy for Labour to score points, spread fear, perpetuate myths and misinformation about what we’re doing.

“I’m actually quite excited by the opportunity in the local elections of setting the record straight.”

Relations between Mr Clegg and Labour politicians in Sheffield have been hostile for some time, fuelled by anger over the Government’s scrapping of the £80m loan to Sheffield Forgemasters.

Debate over the increase in the cap on tuition fees has also been ferocious, with Mr Clegg accused of making a U-turn, having opposed any rise before the election.

But the coalition insists that other measures in the package – such as increasing the threshold at which graduates start making repayments for student loans from £15,000 to £21,000 and introducing extra help for poor students – mean it is more progressive than the current arrangements.

Fed up of this message being drowned out by Labour “mythology” and vocal student protests, Mr Clegg hopes he will be able to win over teachers and parents by addressing them directly and they can then spread the word.

“I think what we perhaps have been insufficiently strong at explaining – so I may have to do it over and over again before May – is that while, yes, we’re saying universities – because of the black hole because more and more people are going to university – will be able to charge more...in most respects, what graduates repay will go down.

“Someone on average income under our scheme could be paying about £7 a month out of their bank account having gone to university, whereas at the moment under Labour’s flat poll tax arrangements they pay over £80.

“I’m really looking forward to being on the doorstep in Sheffield. I’m going to see every single school in my constituency to spell this out to teachers and youngsters because I think Labour have been so cynical on this, they’re actually discouraging bright people from disadvantaged backgrounds from going to university when the truth is under our scheme it will be cheaper for them to do it than under Labour.”

He will also go on the front foot to condemn Labour criticism of the coalition’s economic plans.

“On cuts, we will be saying in May that Labour is committing bare-faced deceit if it will not come clean with the people of Sheffield that it had its own plan for massive cuts to start in April,” he said at the annual Newspaper Conference lunch yesterday.

Dozens of council seats in Yorkshire are up for grabs in the local elections, but losing control of Sheffield would be a major blow for Mr Clegg because his constituency is in the city.