A win by a whisker

Blair faces continued opposition over top-up fees

A narrow victory for the government on tuition fees -- but will the deal that saved the day for the Prime Minister leave him damaged?

Rebel MPs have vowed to continue their fight against tuition fees after the government narrowly won a vote in the Commons last night. Tony Blair scraped home by just five votes after MPs voted on plans to introduce university top-up fees.

Breakfast brought you all the details in our "Yesterday in Parliament" slot with Daisy Sampson.

Daisy Sampson:"Nick Brown's U-turn did seem amazing."

Daisy said she had to eat her words following yesterday's win:

I did my sums, and thought Blair would lose, but I didn't know Nick Brown would be doing such an amazing U-turn.
His reasons do seem rather tenuous. Charles Clarke had an easier time in Parliament. Tory and Lib Dems are lining up to criticise this policy. The conspiracy of Brown helping Blair continues.

The Higher Education Bill was backed by 316 votes to 311, after days of intense campaigning by both sides.

VOTE NUMBERS MPs voting for: 316 MPs voting against: 311 Labour MPs opposed: 71 Three Tories did not vote against the plans Labour abstentions: 19 List of Labour rebels Students outraged at decision

Mr Blair had staked his authority on winning the vote, which saw a sharp reduction in his usual 161 majority.

It was widely seen as his biggest test as prime minister and came just hours before Lord Hutton was due to report his findings on events surrounding the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly.

It means the bill has passed its first major hurdle, but the plans will still be put to the test in further votes in the Commons and Lords as it goes through the parliamentary process.

MPs are now likely to spend two to three months going through the bill line-by-line in its committee stage.

'Utter humiliation'

Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats opposed the plans, which would allow universities to charge students £3,000-a-year, payable when they earn £15,000.

Shadow education and health secretary Tim Yeo branded the result an "utter humiliation" for ministers.

"The government had only won because Scottish Labour MPs voted to impose fees on English students which would not apply north of the border," he said.

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said: "Nobody has emerged from this shabby compromise with any credit."