The clamour of opposition to Labour’s plans for VAT on fees just got louder as thousands pledged their support to a parent-led campaign on the issue.
Parents campaigning against the move have told Sir Keir Starmer they are “not wealthy” and would not be able to afford fees if VAT was imposed, The Telegraph reports.
Tony Perry, 46, an NHS data analyst, was due to launch the “Education Not Taxation: Parents Against School Fee VAT” campaign today with dozens of parents at LVS Ascot in Berkshire.
More than 60,000 people have signed a petition launched by Mr Perry in October to try to stop Labour adding VAT to fees.
Mr Perry, a father of two, said he has an eight-year-old daughter in state education but moved his son Norman, 10, to LVS Ascot because he has ADHD and dyslexia, and was falling behind.
He said: “His state school did their best but he was still falling behind, so we felt we needed to make this choice to help him catch up. We have seen him transform.”
Mr Perry, who earns around £60,000 a year, told The Telegraph: “As a non-wealthy parent sending a child to private school, I am disappointed by Labour’s determination to charge VAT on private school fees.”
He said: “Charging VAT won’t hurt the wealthy students attending public schools like Winchester, where Mr [Rishi] Sunak studied. It will hurt many others, however. Before enacting such a policy, it would help to hear the voices of parents who choose, and often sacrifice, to send their child to private school.”
Other parents backing the campaign said they had chosen to go private because local state schools were poor but they didn’t want to move away from their communities to be near better ones.
One parent said that if VAT was applied his family would “go nuclear” and try to sell anything they could to keep their children in private education.
The petition states that “private schools aren’t simply playgrounds of the wealthy”, with families making ‘life-changing sacrifices’ to pay for their child’s education.
Mr Perry said: “I and other working parents would like to meet Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves and shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson and buy them breakfast. You are listening to other groups. Please listen to actual working parents who are going to be hurt by this.”
Labour has said its VAT policy will not apply for children with a special educational need where their school place is allocated on the basis of an Education and Health Care Plan. It has not commented on the parent campaign.