EMA

Yesterday Parliament voted to scrap EMA. It is due to be replaced but unfortunately by a much smaller scheme of only £100million. I notice the Government are only concerned about keeping children in education as reported in The Independent. Surely one of the main benefits of EMA is that enables students that are in education to focus more easily on their studies rather than trying to work in their free time to earn money for travel/books e.t.c.? Have they considered this element at all? It is not just about staying on but the quality of the results the pupils get which is directly related to their ability to focus on A-level work.

In contrast Goldman Sachs have announced bonus payouts of £10bn. Alistair Darling's "city bonus tax" I'm sure would potentially pay for EMA several times over. The future looks bleak for young people with the scrapping of the uniform grant, funding for school sports in question, scrapping of EMA, Uni fee increases and to cap it all it has also been announce that not only has youth unemployment risen (1in5 are now unemployed), Unemployment in the public sector has risen between september and november with no private sector compensation.