<p><br /> A bid by Labour to prevent the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) being scrapped has been defeated in the Commons.<br /> </p><p><br /> The party's call for Education Secretary Michael Gove to rethink his controversial decision was defeated by 317 votes to 258, Government majority 59.<br /> </p><p><br /> It followed a full day's Commons debate in which Mr Gove was told he had "thrown into reverse" the social mobility that EMA had given hundreds of thousands of students from poorer backgrounds.<br /> </p><p><br /> The debate came as thousands of students marched in central London against the plans to scrap the payment, which is paid to around 650,000 16 to 18-year olds in England.<br /> </p><p><br /> Shadow education secretary Andy Burnham claimed the "incredible" human and social progress made since the 1980s would be "thrown into reverse" by the axing of EMA.<br /> </p><p><br /> It had helped boost the staying-on rate in education from 47 per cent 25 years ago to 82 per cent now, Mr Burnham claimed.<br /> </p><p><br /> He said there was a "compelling case" to keep EMA for educational, social, economic and democratic reasons.<br /> </p><p><br /> The weekly payments of between £10 and £30 for young adults living in households earning under £30,800, was "overwhelmingly used to provide the basics to support education" such as travel, books, equipment and food.<br /> </p>
