Labour’s tax raid on private schools would force nearly half of fee-paying pupils into the state system, a report reveals today.
Sir Keir Starmer yesterday refused to back down on his pledge to charge 20 per cent VAT on independent school fees in the event of Labour winning the General Election.
But a survey of parents with children at private schools suggests as many as 224,000 pupils could leave as a result – double the number previously estimated.
The report said the figures ‘seriously undermine Labour’s argument that the sector would go through an imposition of VAT on school fees ‘largely unscathed’.
It suggests the policy, which could be implemented in time for the start of the new school year, will drive up costs for the taxpayer and create even more competition for the best state schools.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan last night said: ‘This is just more proof that Keir Starmer’s party hasn’t changed. This is the same old Labour Party, playing party politics at the expense of children’s education.
‘Their tax hike will overwhelm our state schools, driving tens of thousands of pupils into the state sector – potentially costing taxpayers £1.6billion.
‘The choice is clear: stick with the clear plan that is working, taking bold action to drive up school standards with Rishi Sunak.
‘Or go back to square one with Keir Starmer and the politics of envy.’
The polling of 30,000 parents of children at independent schools, conducted by education consultancy Baines Cutler over the past two years, suggests previous estimates of how many would drop out if fees were hiked may have been much too low. It showed 42 per cent would have to leave the private sector – which has 500,000-plus pupils – within the next five years, including 14 per cent who would leave immediately.
A further 16 per cent said they would find paying the higher fees hard, including 6 per cent who would need financial support from the school.
Sir Keir yesterday said the tax break currently given to private schools ‘has to go’.
After delivering his first keynote speech of the campaign, the Labour leader said: ‘I completely understand that many parents work hard and save hard to be able to send their children to private schools.
‘I know that, I respect that and I understand that.
‘But there are difficult choices to be made.’
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves had earlier said private schools must make cuts to cope with the VAT raid.
Dismissing concerns over the policy, she told the Daily Telegraph: ‘I’m sure that private schools can make efficiencies in the same way that state schools have been making efficiencies this last decade or so.’
Labour’s school fees plan would have a devastating effect on schoolgirl actress Isla Buchanan.
The 12-year-old, who has already appeared in a touring production of Les Miserables and a Nintendo Switch advert, could be forced to leave her private school and its theatre if VAT is added to fees.
Her parents, supermarket manager Grant, 52, and marketing executive Lana, 47, earn less than £90,000 a year between them and would be unable to afford the hike. The couple – who also have a nine-year-old son Beau in a state primary school – already sacrifice holidays and meals out to send their daughter to an independent school.
Mrs Buchanan, from Bridgwater in Somerset, said the policy was ‘absolutely disgusting’, adding: ‘Labour just doesn’t support aspiration. It’s devastating that a political party is using my children as pawns and targeting one area of education.’