Vote for Students pledge  The National Union of Students (NUS) "Vote for Students" pledge is a pledge to vote against tuition fee increases that was signed by over 1000 candidates standing in the UK general election in 2010, notably including a large number of Labour Party MPs, who had introduced the fees in 1998 and all 57 subsequently elected Liberal Democrat MPs. The pledge states:  The NUS asked politicians to sign the pledge as part of its Funding Our Future campaign. The NUS also asked students to use their vote in the General Election to support candidates who had signed the pledge. No party won an overall majority in the 2010 general election, and the Conservatives (with 306 MPs) and Liberal Democrats (with 57 MPs) formed a coalition government. Regarding higher education, the Coalition Agreement stated "We will await Lord Browne’s final report into higher education funding... If the response of the Government to Lord Browne’s report is one that Liberal Democrats cannot accept, then arrangements will be made to enable Liberal Democrat MPs to abstain in any vote." The Browne Review into Higher Education funding was released in October 2010, with a number of recommendations including completely removing the cap on tuition fees. The coalition government then released proposals for increased tuition fees of up to £9000 each year at some universities. The fees would be covered by student loans, which would only be paid back once the students had graduated and were earning over £21,000. The proposed tuition fee increases led to student demonstrations in London. On the first day of protests Labour's Harriet Harman (who did not sign the pledge) mocked Clegg, saying "During the election [Clegg] hawked himself around university campuses pledging to vote against tuition fees. By the time Freshers' week was over, he had broken his promise. Every single Liberal Democrat MP signed the pledge not to put up tuition fees; every single one of them is about to break that promise." Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, told ITV's "Daybreak" that he should have been more careful in signing the pledge. Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, argued the pledge was not binding, as his party did not win the election out-right, and hence could not keep all its manifesto promises. Clegg said that the new proposals were progressive, stating "those who earn the least will pay much less than they do at the moment, those who earn the most will pay over the odds to provide a subsidy to allow people from poor backgrounds to go to university" and said that the change was needed "because of the financial situation, because of the compromises of the Coalition Government."