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Majority want maintenance grants reintroduced for poorest students - poll

A poll for the Sutton Trust charity found 87% of Britons agree that the Government should provide financial support for students from low-income households while at university.

The survey, of more than 2,000 adults in England, Scotland and Wales, found the majority (53%) want to see maintenance grants for students from low-income households reinstated.

Luke Tryl, the UK director of More in Common, said that while the results suggest national service is not a “game-changer” of a policy, there is a “danger” for Labour to be seen to “rubbish it outright as a concept”.

"Hopefully we can get on with it, because what we’ve got happening at the moment isn’t really working, is it?” That was how Gemma, a construction manager, reacted to last week’s general election announcement. She was one of nine undecided voters in the new parliamentary seat of Hitchin, in Hertfordshire, who More in Common spoke to as part of a focus group on Wednesday evening.

The key to saving the Tories from a 1997-style Labour landslide at the general election lies in the hands of a group of suburban Brexiteers dubbed “Whitby Woman”, pollsters believe.

These crucial voters, defined as women with an average age of 61 who voted for Boris Johnson in 2019 but are now undecided, are thought to be the main demographic standing between the Conservatives and “disaster territory” on July 4.