ST HELENS College chiefs are toasting their good fortune after the Government reversed a decision to axe vital higher education funding.

The Government's promise of £2 million for the college, in return for a 25 per cent increase in student numbers, was put at risk when ministers questioned the 'affordability' of the £84 million boost to the Higher Education Funding Council.

This meant that 800 colleges nationwide faced the prospect of cutting teaching posts and losing students, halfway through their academic year.

St Helens College, together with local and Merseyside MPs, lobbied strongly against the Government's decison to withdraw their pledge to fund colleges, which was made in a bid to boost education opportunities.

Local MPs John Evans and Gerry Bermingham and council leader Dave Watts, who is also chair of governors at the college, wrote to ministers demanding that the Government stick to their original promise.

St Helens North MP Mr Evans said: "The Government gave great hype to the fact that they were ploughing £84 million into further education so that colleges would enrol more students and increase opportunities.

"Colleges like St Helens went ahead and were successful in recruiting students only to have the rug pulled out from under them halfway through the academic year. It was scandalous and a threat to jobs and a massive loss in opportunities for young people across the area."

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