New year, same problems. Already Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government is in the firing line again – this time facing criticism for private school VAT adverts. Now the Treasury has been accused of breaching impartiality for saying that Starmer’s move to apply 20 per cent VAT to private school fees ends a ‘tax break’. Dear oh dear…
In social media ads, the Treasury has insisted that the scrapping of the VAT exemption on private school fees means that ‘tax breaks for private schools will end from 2025’, adding that the move will ‘enable better investment in state education’ and help recruit 6,500 more teachers – one of its first ‘steps for change’ in government. While one poll suggests that over half of Brits support the VAT policy, the Telegraph pointed out that fee-paying schools are set to increase their prices by more than the Labour lot predicted – with a fifth of private schools including Eton hiking fees by as much as 20 per cent. Ouch.
As pointed out by the Times, education secretary Bridget Phillipson has, alongside other Labour ministers, used similar language to that employed in the advert over the last few months to defend the move. How curious.
And the wording of the Twitter ad certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed by Tory politicians. Conservative MP Jesse Norman took to the social media site to fume:
The absence of a charge is not a tax break, and any money it may raise has not been hypothecated for education. This is a highly political tweet at odds with the proper neutrality of the Treasury and the civil service.
Oo er. Dame Priti Patel agreed, noting: ‘This tweet shows that the Treasury has lost its impartiality and objectivity and is now a mouthpiece for Britain’s left-wing government while you tax the education of children.’
Talk about pulling no punches. For its part, the government claims the policy will raise £1.7 billion, which it plans to invest in more state education teachers. The Treasury has also defended the post, commenting that: ‘Private schools had exemptions from paying VAT and business rates – they are by definition tax breaks.’
But it’s not just opposition politicians who have taken issue with the Treasury ad. Barrister Daniel ShenSmith slammed the Twitter post, saying it ‘breaks the rules on the ethics guidance for government communications’, while chief of the Independent Schools Association, Rudi Eliott Lockhart, was adamant:
It’s not a tax break. VAT is a tax on parents, not schools. It won’t raise the sums Labour claim and it won’t lead to 6,500 new teachers. It will close small, lower-cost schools and special educational needs schools.
Hardly a glowing indictment of the PM’s new policy, eh?
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