Intriguing idea that removing VAT exemptions from private schools would be “class war.” Not a term I think is necessarily helpful but since it’s been brought up, here’s an alternative take on class war in modern Britain. pic.twitter.com/MWAXcTYWyK

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) November 30, 2022

The LAB plan to end the charitable status and thus the VAT exemption on private schools has been around for some time though it has never been centre stage. That changed today at PMQs when Starmer started with the state money that Sunak’s old school, Winchester, receives.

The party obviously thinks this is a good way to highlight Sunak’s privileged background which they must believe will help them electorally. No doubt there have been many focus groups

This looks set to be a big battle with the institutions that will be affected planning to fight hard against it. In my view the more noise there is the more it will help Labour who can assert that this would create a new income stream that can be used to support the state education sector.

Charts like the one above show the huge influence that private (which means public in this context) schools have on British life and become challenging to defend. The judiciary, for instance, should surely reflect society much better.

I think that this will run right up to the election

Mike Smithson