Welsh MPs stand firm

Most Welsh Labour MPs are likely to vote against the higher education bill and will resist being "bought off" by the offer of devolved powers for Wales over student support, a leading rebel has claimed this week. Huw Edwards, Labour MP for Monmouth, a former university lecturer and a signatory to an early-day motion urging the government to consider alternatives to variable fees, said he thought that more than half of the 34 Labour Welsh MPs would rebel. The majority would not be swayed by the fact that voting against the bill would delay the transfer of powers over student support from Westminster to the Welsh Assembly, he said.