STUDENTS are out to scupper the “worst attacks on society since Thatcher” today as thousands march on Parliament against education cuts.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell will be among those speaking out against planned cuts to maintenance grants and further rises to tuition fees at the opening rally in Malet Street.

National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts spokeswoman Deborah Hermanns told the Star: “The Tory government is carrying out the worst attacks on society since Thatcher.

“They have no basis in economic sense, they come from a disposition of greed and hatred, and form an overarching attack on the rights and welfare of the working classes.

“We can not allow this to go unchallenged.

“It is the duty of the student movement to resist this government and we will continue to fight until we win — on the streets, in occupations and in our communities.”

Student campaigners argued that returning to free education in Britain is not a “pipe dream” after students in South Africa and Germany won similar demands in the last few months.

Warwick student Hope Worsdale said earlier this week that she would be travelling to London on the day because “the Tory government has already tried to abolish higher education as we know it, and now they will come back, unrestrained.

“We have had successes in the past — such as on the student loan book sell-off and the Higher Education Bill, which was dropped in 2012 — and we intend to fight for every inch of the education system and the wider welfare state.”

joanaramiro@peoples-press.com