MP, Shadow Secretary of State
for Education, said:
“Labour's education tax policy will be disastrous for pupils
across the country.
“They have been warned over and over by countless experts that
this policy, fuelled by misguided ideology, will lead to a flood
of students leaving the private sector without any plans to
accommodate them in state schools. And by moving up the timeline
to the middle of the school year, they will only compound this
chaos.
“Pupils, teachers, and schools across the country will all pay
the price for this. The Conservatives will hold
them to account.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
-
This morning, warned VAT on private
school fees could start in January (The
Times, 22nd July 2024, link)
-
Labour's policy to charge VAT to independent schools
would risk 134,000 pupils ‘leaving immediately' and requiring a
state education, costing the taxpayer up to £1.6
billion. ‘Children would need to be educated by the
state, with large numbers of pupils leaving immediately and
further pupils leaving the sector as they reach the end of key
educational stages' (Baines Cutler Solution, ISC VAT on
School Fees Report, October 2018, link; ASI, Short
Term Thinking, 17 March 2024, link).
-
The IFS estimates that around 40,000 pupils would be
forced to leave their independent school as a result of
Labour's policy to charge 20 per cent VAT on independent
schools.The IFS said, ‘it would be reasonable to
assume' that up to 40,000 pupils would be forced to leave the
independent education sector as a result of a 15 per cent
effective VAT rate but recognises that it could be even higher
as they have not accounted for ‘potential reductions in labour
supply and the potential for tax avoidance behaviour on the
behalf of parents or schools' (IFS, Tax, Private
School Fees and State School Spending, 11 July
2023, link).
-
admitted Labour's plan
to add VAT to private school fees risks increasing class sizes
in the state sector.STUDIO: ‘The criticism of
the policy is, and it's going to be pushing more private school
pupils into already overcrowded state schools… And by the way,
it's already closed down two independent
schools' THORNBERRY: ‘I have, as I already said,
there are schools that certainly have vacancies. You know,
there are my primary schools and my secondary schools have
space and they're very welcome… Tt's fine, you know, and if we
have to in the short term, have, have larger classes, we have
larger classes, you know, the, the birth rate goes up and
down' STUDIO: ‘So you will make larger classes to
accommodate' (GB News Camilla Tominey
Show, 9 June 2024, archived).
