THE Conservative Harrow East MP who pledged to vote against a rise in university tuition fees broke his promise.

Bob Blackman was undecided on whether to support the coalition government's proposed rise of the cap on fees from £3,290 to £9,000 just one day before the vote last Thursday, but voted in favour.

He told the Observer: "I am supporting the government proposals as they reduce the amount paid by graduates, abolish up-front fees and only start to be payable when graduates earn more than £21,000."

Asked for his response to students in the borough who may have voted for him on the basis that he would oppose any rise, as promised during a visit to Harrow College during his election campaign, Mr Blackman said he thought the new system would be fairer."Graduates will pay far less than the present system. I ask them [students] to study the proposals to see that they are clearly a big improvement."

The president of the students union at Harrow College, Joshua McKenzie, had earlier warned the Tory MP against a betrayal, saying: "He needs to keep the promise that he made to students and staff or he will not be trusted and these people will not vote for him again."

The tuition fee rise will help plug the gap in university budgets after Chancellor George Osborne's spending review announced cuts of 40 per cent to the higher education budget.

Labour MP for Brent North, Barry Gardiner, accused children's minister Sarah Teather, Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East, of not hearing the debate in the House of Commons before the vote.

He said: "As an education minister, she was expected to at least attend the debate.

"People in Brent remember that this was not just a manifesto promise; Ms Teather signed a personal pledge to vote against any rise in tuition fees.

"Today she could not even be both-ered to listen to the debate. She has broken her promises and betrayed young people in Brent."

But a spokeswoman for Ms Teather explained: "Ministers rarely attend parliamentary debates on subjects out-side their brief and cannot speak in them.

"Sarah was in the chamber for part of the summation speeches behind the chair. Otherwise, Sarah was in ministerial meetings about special educational needs from midday onwards."