IT is good news that approximately 18,000 students in the North-East and North Yorkshire will not now lose their £30-a-week grants which make the difference to them being able to continue in further education.

After a last-minute Government rethink, Education Secretary Michael Gove announced yesterday that most students already claiming the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) will go on receiving the grants until they finish their studies.

Those handed a reprieve can breathe a sigh of relief.

But the longer-term outlook for young people from poorer backgrounds is not so bright.

The EMA scheme is to be replaced with a bursary scheme that will target the most needy students, giving them slightly more financial aid than they currently receive.

Targeting those who need most help clearly makes sense. But no one has to be a student of advanced mathematics to appreciate that reducing the investment in further education grants from £560m to £180m represents a significant reduction in the number of young people who can be supported.

Coupled with concerns over the huge hike in university fees, the worry is that this latest announcement adds up to a significant disincentive to young people to continue their education.

Aspiration will be undermined and, in the long run, it is hard to see how that can be good for the British economy.