The plan to scrap maintenance grants, which help half a million of the poorest students will go through a legislation committee next Thursday- but without a vote and debate in the House of Commons. 

 

It was first put forward by Chancellor George Osborne in July, when he proposed to turn maintenance grants into loans in order to save money. 

 

The Labour party is opposing to the change in complete outrage. The universities minister for the shadow cabinet, gordon Marsden, said  "it will deprive around half a million of England's students from lower incom households".

 

Wes Streeting, MP for Ilford North and former president of the National Union of Students said: “It is shocking that something as significant as abolishing student grants is being done through delegated legislation in the hope that people won’t notice it".

 

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, criticised the “sly” attempt to end the grants by turning them into loans.

 

“This is a very frightening prospect for young people and their parents … Plans to cut maintenance grants are wrong and we will fight these plans".

 

The House of Lords, which is dominated by Labour and the Lib Dems, could have blocked the move if it had been done through primary legislation,

 

Thousands of students from campuses around the country protested against the scrapping of grants outside parliament in November, supported by the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell.

 

Critics of the move argue that it will prevnt young people from low-income families from joining higher education. Under the current system, university students from families with household incomes of £25,000 or less are entitled to a grant to cover living costs of £3,387 a year. The grant decreases as the family’s income increases and ends when a household earns more than £42,620.

 

Under the new system, from September 2016 students will get a higher amount of up to £8,200 but this will all have to be repaid under the same terms as existing loans once a graduate earns more than £21,000 a year.

 

More recently, Osborne has announced he is examining whether to end bursaries for student nurses and midwives, meaning they would have to repay the cost of their tuition fees.