THOUSANDS OF secondary school pupils are set to take to the streets all over the UK today to protest at cuts in a State allowance that encourages children from poorer homes to stay in schools.
There is growing concern that student demonstrations could become more violent as the cuts imposed by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat alliance begin to bite.
Today, the focus will be on the abolition of the education maintenance allowance, introduced by Labour six years ago and which offers a £30 a week payment to more than 600,000 children from families with less than £21,000 a year to stay in school after 16, while those from homes with less than £30,000 income get £10.
The payments, which are made to four in five children in cities such as Birmingham and Leicester, are to end in 2011, even though the Conservatives specifically denied that they would do so before the election.
The abolition, said Labour leader, Ed Miliband, shows that the government is “totally out of touch with ordinary life”.
On Tuesday, students, including those at third-level, are set to gather again outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster when legislation to increase tuition fees to £6,000 a year, and up to £9,000 for some courses, will be debated by the House of Lords.
Security is expected to be even tighter than it was last Thursday when up to £50,000 worth of damage was caused to nearby buildings, including the Treasury.
Home secretary Theresa May, who is facing criticism from some that the protest was not dealt with more severely and by others because students were injured – one seriously – is to make a statement to MPs today.
Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson is said to have offered to resign over the attack on Prince Charles’s car in Regent Street.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat deputy leader, Simon Hughes, who abstained on Thursday’s vote, is facing resignations by leading party members in his Bermondsey constituency in London, in continuing evidence that the stance taken by party leader and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has done irreparable damage to the party’s fortunes.
So far, 35 people have been arrested after Thursday’s disturbances, including Charlie Gilmour, the adopted son of Pink Floyd guitarist, David Gilmour – who was photographed hanging from a Union Jack on the Cenotaph.
