Keir Starmer is slammed over plans to strip private schools of tax breaks while praising them for doing ‘huge amount’ for the country
- Starmer said that independent schools added ‘a huge amount to our country’
- However he still has plans to slap VAT on fees and scrap tax breaks
- He said it’s not fair for private schools to have tax breaks as state schools are ‘struggling’
- Tory MP Craig Mackinlay said: ‘There’s an unreformed socialist crying to get out’
Sir Keir Starmer was slammed last night for praising private schools while still demanding that they be stripped of their charitable status.
The Labour leader said independent schools added ‘a huge amount to our country’ despite his plans to slap VAT on fees and scrap tax breaks.
It is feared the move could affect schools’ ability to help fund places for poorer pupils and put 200 at risk of closure.
But yesterday Sir Keir, who was a pupil at Reigate Grammar School when it became fee-paying, said: ‘There are very good private schools and there’s no case for abolishing them. And that’s why the argument I’ve been making is about the tax breaks.’
The Labour leader said independent schools added ‘a huge amount to our country’ despite his plans to slap VAT on fees and scrap tax breaks
On Radio 4 Today programme, he added: ‘Is it fair to have a tax break for private schools as state schools are really struggling? I think the answer is no.
‘But I’m not talking about abolishing private schools. I think private schools add a huge amount to our country.’
Last night Tory MP Craig Mackinlay said of the Labour leader ‘scratch the surface and there’s an unreformed socialist crying to get out’.
He added: ‘While he’s rowing back on his party’s distaste for choice in education, they’ll doubtless simply wish to tax private education out of existence. What’s next – private health, private cars, exotic holidays?’
Fellow Tory MP Sir John Hayes added: ‘If he believes in a plural education system, why on earth does he want to remove the charitable status of schools that, in his words, do such a good job for both pupils and the economy?’
Yesterday figures from the Independent Schools Council, which represents 1,300 schools, showed that they are giving away £480million this year in means-tested help with fees.
Chief executive Julie Robinson condemned Sir Keir’s tax plan as ‘an ideological policy that would punish hard-working parents who strive to make this choice for their children’.
A Labour spokesman said the party ‘thinks parents should have the choice about where to educate their children but ending private schools’ tax breaks is about fairness and ensuring excellence for everyone’.