Tuition fees protest to hit London

Thousands of students are expected to descend on London for a protest calling for the abolition of tuition fees and an end to student debt.

The focus of the rally will be against plans to scrap maintenance grants and replace them with loans, which critics warn will plunge the poorest students into thousands of pounds of extra debt.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell will address crowds and a statement from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will be read out, organisers said.

Callum Cant, 21, from the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, which organised the demonstration, said mounting levels of student debt are making university less accessible.

He said: "The Government is impoverishing the poorest students for minimal gains. It is an attack on the least privileged students which doesn't save much money and causes misery.

"It is austerity which targets the poorest students. Our worry is that it will make university a lot more inaccessible."

At present, full-time UK students from families with annual household incomes of £25,000 or less qualify for maintenance grants of £3,387 a year.

For families with incomes of £30,000, the grant falls to £2,441, while at £35,000 it is £1,494.

Students from families with a household income of £40,000 receive £547, and if the income is above £46,620 no amount is awarded.

But under the changes, which come into force in the next academic year, these grants will be replaced by loans which students would start paying back when they earned more than £21,000 a year.

Coaches carrying students from all over Britain are making their way to the capital for the demonstration.

It will begin in Mallet Street in central London before making its way through central London to Whitehall.

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: "This Government is committed to ensuring everyone with the potential to benefit from higher education has the opportunity to do so, regardless of their background.

"It has always been the case that student support provided by Government is a contribution to living costs and institutions themselves offer a range of bursaries, scholarships and grants.

"Our system means that lack of finance should not be a barrier to participation and more funding is available to support living costs than ever before."