As of today Newcastle is officially no longer part of the NUS

Newcastle University Students’ Union officially disaffiliated from the NUS this morning as the six months notice required to formally leave the national union expired. It means that you can’t get those NUS cards which provided discounts to many well known retailers and online shops (I never used my card either).

It comes after 989 students (67%) voted to leave the National Union of Students when we were asked in May whether we should disaffiliate. Members of the successful Leave campaign brought up issues such as the cost paid to the NUS each year (£51,000 per annum for affiliation); that the NUS have failed to stop tuition fees rising; and that they want to criminalise legal highs and raise drinks prices.

However, the NUSU received criticism after a staggering 94% of students didn’t vote in the referendum which happened in Spring 2016. Only 1,469 students actually voted compared to a university population of 23,391 students.

Newcastle’s page has yet to be deleted from the NUS website.

After winning in May 2016 Matt Wilson-Boddy, leader of the leave campaign, told The Tab: “I’m incredibly proud of the work my team has put in, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve anything if it wasn’t for them. They put in hours upon hours and really gave it their all. We ran a good, honest campaign full of passionate people in the face of attacks from the better-funded NUS leadership team and won.

“I look forward to seeing how our own union grows in the wake of disaffiliation, and I personally will be continuing to strive to improve student quality of life in Newcastle and across the UK. An additional congratulations to both sides for getting students directly involved in politics to such an incredible degree.”