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A Bristol MP has written to her constituency neighbour to call for him to reverse the cuts to support for the poorest university students.

Chris Skidmore, the Conservative MP for Kingswood, was recently appointed universities and sciences minister by Theresa May.

Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East – the constituency next-door to Mr Skidmore’s – has written to the Bristol-educated minister to ask him to use his new powers to reinstate the maintenance grant that was formerly paid to disadvantaged university students.

The support grant, which helped pay towards the living costs of students from less well-off backgrounds while studying at higher education establishments, was scrapped by David Cameron’s Tory government in 2015.

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The Bristol East and Bristol South constituencies have some of the lowest rates of pupils going onto university, while, in contrast, Bristol West is home to one of the highest populations of degree-holding constituents in the country.

Ms McCarthy said there were measures that Mr Skidmore, who attended Bristol Grammar School and went on to study modern history at Oxford, could implement to make it easier for pupils to go onto higher education as part of the government’s post-18 education review.

The city MP told the minister: “This review is a fantastic opportunity to bring back maintenance grants for disadvantaged students, which would undoubtedly improve diversity in higher education and help ease the anxiety faced by young people considering university study, but are currently deterred by the prospect of leaving university with significant debts.

“This is particularly important for my constituents in Bristol East, where the percentage of 18-year-olds entering higher education is significantly lower than the national average.”

The former shadow environment secretary, in her letter dated December 14, also made a plea for Mr Skidmore to reintroduce bursaries for trainee nurses. The government scrapped bursaries in 2016, while at the same time lifting the cap on the numbers of students who could apply for nursing courses.

According to a report in Nursing Times, applications for nursing courses have dropped by a third – down by almost 5,000 – since the change was made.

Ms McCarthy said students studying at the University of the West of England’s (UWE) nursing campus in her constituency had told her they were “struggling financially”, with few opportunities to earn money outside of the unpaid placement hours they have to accrue.

WATCH: Student nurse opens up on her money struggle

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Mr Skidmore’s office confirmed he had received the letter from his neighbouring MP and would be replying personally.

A Department for Education spokeswoman said the on-going education review would consider whether to bring back maintenance support.

The spokeswoman said: “Our review of post-18 education and funding is considering how disadvantaged students and learners receive maintenance support, and looking at how we can drive up quality, increase choice and ensure value for money for students and taxpayers.”

They said universities and further education colleges were set to spend more than £860m in 2018/19 on measures to improve access for disadvantaged students – more than double the £404m spent in 2009.

On nursing bursaries, a Whitehall source said the government would be looking at a “long-term plan”, as part of its recent commitment to spend an extra £20.5bn a year on the NHS by 2023/24, to “open up the profession to people from all backgrounds” and ensure support during their training was in place.