The House of Commons recently voted narrowly in favour of cutting student maintenance grants – these are grants given to fund people from the poorest families in England during their time in higher education.

The move came under fierce criticism from opposition parties and, though not on the scale of those we saw in 2010, sparked protests in London.

In this podcast we find out the impact of this decision will be, and the rationale behind it. We spoke to Bex Bailey, the youth representative on Labour’s National Executive Committee; Sophie Van Der Ham, the Co-Chair of the Young Greens; and PLMR’s Oliver Lane, who worked as a chief press officer for the government.