The Government looks set to officially scrap maintenance grants today - without a vote and debate in the House of Commons - and will be spoken about by just 17 MPs through a legislation committee, a move some politicians have labelled “shocking,” “undemocratic,” and “frightening.”

The issue was raised at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday by Paul Blomfield, Labour MP for Sheffield Central. However, the National Union of Students (NUS), which has been calling for a fair debate on the topic to take place, described how David Cameron “dodged” Mr Blomfield’s questions “on such a crucial issue.”

In the full exchange, Mr Blomfield to Mr Cameron: “When the Government pushed through their changes to undergraduate funding four years ago, they said that providing maintenance grants for the poorest students was key to their participation in higher education.

“No mention was made in the Conservative manifesto of ending those grants. Is it therefore not completely unacceptable to make that fundamental change tomorrow by the back door, in Committee, without a vote of this House?”

Mr Cameron, however, insisted the issue had been “fully debated and discussed” in the house, and added: “It’s absolutely right because what our changes have shown - despite all the warnings from the party opposite - that more people are taking part in higher education and more people from low income backgrounds are taking part in higher education - and I’m confident that will continue to be the case.”

Student protest turns violent

Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, described how he worked in higher education before becoming an MP and saw, at first-hand, how being at university “allows people to grow and develop.” He added: “This is a very frightening prospect for young people and their parents. This is a typical Tory reaction, they don’t understand what it is like to struggle.

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The protesters demanded that the parliament takes steps to impeach President Park Geun-Hye EPA Student news in pictures Filipino demonstrators face off with anti-riot police during a protest near the US Embassy in Manila, Philippine EPA Student news in pictures Hundreds of protesters including Indigenous People, students and militant groups marched towards the US Embassy to protest against the presence of US military troops and condemning the violent dispersal which left at least forty people hurt including twenty police officers and three people who were run over by a police van EPA Student news in pictures A federal judge in Mexico has ordered that a once-fugitive police chief be held on charges of kidnapping in the disappearance of 43 students Student news in pictures A man holds up a photograph of a missing student with a caption reading 'We are missing 43,' during a meeting marking the 25-month anniversary of the disappearances of 43 students in the southern state of Guerrero, in Mexico City. 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“We have worked to target support to the poorest students, and removing that vital help will hurt those who need it most. Plans to cut maintenance grants are wrong and we will fight these plans tooth and nail.

“Social mobility is a real priority and these changes threaten to further entrench inequality. It is something I oppose.”

Wes Streeting, Labour MP for Ilford North, said he would be fighting to save grants for the poorest university students, which the Government plans to scrap “using a small committee that nobody has ever heard of.” He added: “This is a shockingly underhand and undemocratic way for the Government to behave - which I’m now getting used to.”

In the 2015 Budget, Chancellor George Osborne announced the Government’s intention to abolish grants and replace them, instead, with increased maintenance loans, a change which looks set to have an impact on student perceptions of the value of higher education.

Currently, university students from families with a household income of £25,000 or less are entitled to a grant to cover living costs of £3,387 per year. This grant then decreases as the family’s income increases and come to an end when a household earns more than £42,620.