One policy area puzzlingly absent from the Lib Dem conference agenda this year is that of education. Despite being a bastion of the party’s ideology, there is not one frontbench spokesman making a keynote speech on the subject in the main hall.

Why is this? Is it, as one researcher suggested, that education was covered extensively at the Lib Dem spring conference? Time to give other people a say? I am not convinced.
Could it be instead that in an era of cuts, the Lib Dem high-thinkers just can’t find a way to be positive on the future of education?

“Savage” cuts are the talk of the town. Every fringe event, whatever the title, seems to end with a debate on public sector cuts. If a Lib Dem education spokesman stands up on the main hall stage, he or she will have to talk about specific budgetary constraints. Is it better just to keep quiet and avoid the bad news?

Yesterday in a Q&A session in the main hall, Nick Clegg stumbled on the future of tuition fees. Sounding a little unsure, Clegg stated that the Lib Dems continue to stand by their pledge to scrap tuition fees. But there is now a question over ‘when’ this might be possible, he added. In essence, Clegg was forced to admit that a core Lib Dem policy is now only an aspiration.

Sadly, I suspect that this is the case for many more of the party’s progressive ideas. The language of Bournemouth this year is constraint. Luckily, delegates seem to agree that cuts are necessary. Just don’t go into the specifics, alright? Because that is when you start to make people angry.

Today, the CBI warns that current levels of university funding are unsustainable. And it might just be that the Lib Dems agree. Just don’t expect them to talk about it at conference.