Karin Smyth met Bristol students to support their campaign to oppose the government’s replacement of maintenance grants with loans from 2016.
The Labour MP met Tom Phipps and Steph Harris at the University of Bristol Students’ Union, which represents over 22,000 students living across all four of the city’s Parliamentary constituencies.
Karin Smyth said: “Of all the UK’s 650 Parliamentary constituencies, Bristol South sends the second lowest number of its young people to university. For a city with such talent and enterprise, it’s a shocking statistic. I fear the government’s ill-judged proposals will make matters worse. Maintenance grants provide vital support to help students meet living costs when they go to university.”