Roman Catholic boarding faculty closes on account of Labour’s VAT raid

A Roman Catholic boarding school has become one of the first of its kind to close in the face of Labour’s VAT raid on private education.

The tax change is cited as a factor in the shutdown of Kilgraston School, near Bridge of Earn, Perthshire, on Tuesday.

Local authorities are now rushing to accommodate the 249 pupils affected – but space is at a premium in council-run schools.

Other independent schools in the UK could soon be in a similar predicament, with thousands of children left trying to find a place in the hard-pressed state sector.

Also in Scotland, the 100-pupil Cedars School in Greenock will close next month.

Kilgraston School, near Bridge of Earn, Perthshire, has become one of the first of its kind to close in the face of Labour’s VAT raid on private education

Also in Scotland, the 100-pupil Cedars School in Greenock will close next month

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson (pictured) has said she wanted to ‘act quickly’, saying independent schools have had ‘ample time to prepare’ for the new changes 

Labour is pushing ahead with its plans to remove the VAT exemption and business rates relief for private schools from January 1 in an attempt to raise £1.5billion.

Kilgraston – Scotland’s only Catholic boarding school – was saved last year after an ‘extraordinary call to action’ which raised £1.2million in 48 hours.

But the school said a combination of factors, including falling demand from international boarders and the ‘possible impact of VAT on fees’ meant it had to close.

The school, which has £3.4million of loans and finance commitments outstanding, charged annual fees of £41,634 for senior boarders.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Hewat, registrar at fee-paying Lomond School in Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire, warned that more schools may go out of business.

Mr Hewat described the Labour leadership as ‘green-eyed’ and accused it of forcing schools to look at ways to engage in hard marketing tactics to try to attract more pupils if they want to stay open.

On LinkedIn, Mr Hewat wrote: ‘The green-eyed, spineless Labour idiocy is enforced and the reality is that a good number of independent schools who have traditionally needed to do nought but open their doors are going to have to start to ‘market’ themselves. Hard.’

The school was contacted for further comment.

Scottish Tory education spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘[The closure of Kilgraston] is not just desperately sad news for staff, students and parents, but damaging to the local community.’

Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: ‘Private schools are being destroyed by the politics of envy.’

Scottish Tory education spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘The confirmation of Kilgraston’s closure is an early indication of the impact of Labour’s policy.

‘It’s not just desperately sad news for staff, students and parents, but damaging to the local community.’

One senior private school insider said Labour had wrongly assumed the independent sector in Scotland had the resilience and resources of many of its counterparts south of the Border.

The Treasury declined to comment on individual school closures but ministers believe that it is ‘right that we introduce [VAT on fees] as soon as possible’.