A PROTEST by dozens of students outside a Tory office has been branded a “Labour party rally” by MP Mike Freer.

The youngsters from across the borough marched on the Finchley and Golders Green constituency office in Ballards Lane to demonstrate against planned increases in tuition fees last Thursday.

Staff for Mr Freer, who was in Parliament at the time, also took delivery of a petition against changes to the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) for poorer students.

However, Mr Freer said the fact organiser Alex Clayman, 16, is a Labour Party member and the group leader Councillor Alison Moore spoke to the gathering showed it was a political stunt.

He said: “I've been through the petition and it is inaccurate, it talks about the abolition of the EMA but it is not being abolished, it is being given to head teachers to give to the most needy pupils.

“I've written to the 64 people who signed the petition who live in my constituency setting out what the government proposals are and correcting a few things that aren't quite accurate.”

He defended the move saying it had to be done to fill the hole in the country's finances caused by the previous Labour government as part of the coalition government's cost-cutting measures.