Stop the Cuts - National Demonstration

I believe that agreeing to the tuition fees rise was part of the coalition agreement; that is, opposing it would not have brought the government down but stopped that government forming in the first place. LibDem PMs were allowed to vote against it; LibDem ministers were not. Though for a while there was the bizarre possibility that Vince Cable would vote against his own bill. Instead a Conservative minority government would have formed and, as had been noted, the LibDems would probably not have been thanked for that.
The LibDems, and Clegg in particular, now have a reputation for breaking promises. Reputations count for a lot in politics - the way people 'feel' about a politician can sink or save them. As Gordon Brown found out. What happens in the next four years may or may not change that reputation. But the increased fees come in in 2012 which will only bring the subject to the fore again; leaving only two, rather than four, years for the fallout to settle.
It does really interest me though how parties campaign in systems where coalitions are likely. Especially when there are only three parties in the running and two of them, Labour and Tory, will never go into government together. If you don't trust politicians promises now how will you feel when you think they might have to negotiate after an election? Will the LibDems make public their conditions for a coalition next time? Will the other two parties?

I was looking for the actual vote recently but couldn't find it (didn't look that hard). But I recall the libdems for the most abstained rather than vote against.

And there seems to be an irrational fear of minority governments and coalitions in the UK. A minority government would, in my opinion, been preferential to this coalition. It would have required actual working together between all the parties. What we have now is a bit of a political farce (in terms of the two parties who are in government, and what they're doing).

Also, I would be pretty shocked if this government stayed in power for the full term. Although, economic fear is a great motivator at times...