TORY plans to scrap bursaries for nursing, midwifery and other health degree students will cripple the NHS, leaving it dangerously understaffed, union research reveals today.

According to a new report commissioned by trade unions Unison and the National Union of Students (NUS), the £800 million cut would see around 2,000 fewer people going into healthcare degrees each year.

Plans to change the £1,000 to £4,000 yearly bursaries into loans were originally announced in the Chancellor’s Spending Review last November.