POLITICS students from a New Forest college visited Parliament this week to raise the profile of their funding petition, which has already obtained 30,000 signatures.

Teenagers at Brockenhurst College travelled up to Westminster as they continue to raise awareness about their campaign to get the government to invest more in colleges.

The petition highlights how government funding for colleges has been cut by almost 30 per cent in real terms over the last ten years, while sixth forms have been less affected.

This shortfall, petition organisers say, has led to significant financial pressures in further education colleges, ultimately leading to inequality.

Nine Brockenhurst students made the trip to Parliament, where they met with New Forest East MP Dr Julian Lewis, who listened to their concerns and agreed to back their cause.

A week after starting the petition, signatories topped the 25,000 mark, exceeding the 10,000 names required for Parliament to respond.

The target is now to reach 100,000 signatures, which will mean the issue will be considered for parliamentary debate.

Politics student Charlotte Jones, who started the petition, said: “All we want is equality, and I think that’s fair to ask.

“If we all had equal funding, it would be a fair playing field, and everyone would be on the same level.”

Some of the college-sector problems cited by the petition include a reduction in teaching resources, reduced course choice and pressures on staff pay and workload.

Brockenhurst College Principal Di Roberts CBE said: “We have increasingly found that our agility has been tested as an organisation to provide a consistently high standard of education and training for our students and apprentices.

“Over the last decade we have seen an ongoing lack of investment from the government.

“We want to continue to invest in our facilities and our highly-skilled teachers and assessors, and we cannot do this without better funding.”

Dr Lewis added: “It was a great pleasure to welcome the students and staff from Brockenhurst College to Parliament. I was glad that they saw the exchanges with the prime minister and I shall certainly be pressing their case – which is very strong – with education ministers.”

The petition can be viewed online at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/229744