JEREMY CORBYN’S shadow cabinet stood strongly alongside students against cuts to maintenance grants yesterday as Tories succeeded in scrapping the last remaining higher education grants.

The cruel plans to end £3,500 worth of support to university students from lower-income families were passed by 303 against 292 votes.

Students and opposition accused David Cameron and his Cabinet of trying to enforce the policy through the “back door,” with the decision being discussed by a mere 18-person committee and avoiding a proper debate.

Outside Parliament hundreds of students and free education activists staged an emergency demonstration, later blocking Westminster Bridge for over an hour in protest.

NUS vice-president Shelly Asquith told the crowds: “When George Osborne announced these cuts in his Budget this summer he also announced some tax cuts for the richest, so we know exactly whose side this government is on.

“As soon as they announced this we’ve held demonstrations outside Tory MPs’ offices, we’ve held a march right through London right to Parliament, but they’ve taken no notice.

“Shame, shame on this Tory government.”

Also at the rally was Norwich South MP and staunch Corbyn supporter Clive Lewis. He addressed protesting students with a quote from late Labour MP Tony Benn: “If we can find the money to kill people we can find the money to help people.”

Taking a swipe at ministers who want to renew the Trident nuclear programme, he said: “I say this amount of money would be better spent on education, on taking care of people in this country than the spending on weapons of mass destruction.

“We know that by getting rid of these grants to the poorest students, it will disproportionately affect women, black and minority ethnic students, disabled students, mature students.

“George Osborne failed on working tax credits, he was defeated, he is now scrabbling for money and what he is in effect doing is kicking the poorest students in this country now to pay for his mistakes and his defeat.”

“I think that with the election of Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party will at the next general election have a message of hope and of real change.”

The Conservatives now plan to replace the maintenance grants with loans which Universities Minister Jo Johnson suggested would save £2.5 billion.

However concerns have been raised that if students from working-class families felt the burden of costs and debt, many would give up on the idea of higher education.

Fine arts student Marianne Murray told the Star the only reason she was able to move to London and study arts was because she was awarded a grant.

“But if I thought about it now and also from the point of view of my younger sister, leaving with even more debt than I will already leave with, it would be so much more of a barrier than it was,” she added.

“It already puts people off doing creative subjects and I think that arts schools used to be somewhere where working-class people could go and create culture and they didn’t have to worry about the money side of it.

“If you’re a poorer artist you are going to have to work a low-pay job alongside [studying], or work for free and a lot of people would not be able to cope with that.”