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Before the general election Lib Dem candidates up and down the land signed the pledge.

Not the pledge to abstain from alcohol which might, in hindsight, be easier to keep than the pledge to "vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament and to pressure the government to introduce a fairer alternative".

Tuition fees have been a totemic issue for the Lib Dems and following their pledges, the party won a string of seats in university towns including Cambridge, Colchester and Norwich.

That pledge was framed by the National Union of Students and the whiff of student politics pervades as the chickens come home to roost.

The Lib Dems find that they are the government now, or, at least part of it and this week the review of Higher Education by Lord Browne of Madingley recommended the cap on tuition fees be lifted, paving the way for fees to soar.

Bob Russell MP, the Colchester incumbent, has declared he will stand by his pledge and will not support the Browne Review.

Julian Huppert, the new Lib Dem MP for Cambridge, tells us he has campaigned against any rise in fees since he was an undergraduate. Last week he re-signed the Student Pledge, reaffirming his promise.

"Young people should be able to go to university based on their ability and not on their ability to pay," he said.

The same can't be said of Norman Lamb, MP for North Norfolk, who has told us he needs to "fess up" that he is likely to support the package, although its final form has yet to be decided.

He believes that it provides a progressive alternative to what we have at the moment as 30% of the poorest graduates will pay less than they do at present, while the wealthiest graduates will pay significantly more.

"It is very, very difficult with the pledge but essentially I have to accept that I got it wrong. I think it is much better to be straightforward about that, rather than trying to beat around the bush."

So what about the fourth Lib Dem MP in the eastern region? Simon Wright signed the pledge at the University of East Anglia in Norwich before he took the seat of Norwich South with a majority of 300 votes from Labour's Charles Clarke, who introduced top up fees in the first place.

Well, the former maths teacher has yet to make up his mind.

He won't have too long to make his calculation though, if the new legislation is, as is hoped, to stand a chance of getting onto the statute book in time for the next academic year.

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