Private schools tax raid justified because they have ‘priced out’ middle class, suggests Phillipson

Bridget Phillipson, pictured on the campaign trail with Sir Keir Starmer, argues that private schools are now only used by the very wealthy - JACOB KING/PA

Labour’s tax raid on private schools is justified because they have “priced out” the middle classes, the shadow education secretary has suggested.

Bridget Phillipson appeared to shift the blame for the policy onto independent schools – who she said had “whacked up their fees way beyond inflation”.

Her remarks, in an interview with The Independent, come as Labour faces growing criticism over its plan to impose 20pc VAT on school fees.

There have been warnings that the policy could mean more than 40,000 pupils would flee the private sector, placing a huge extra burden on state schools, with the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimating that 7 per cent of private school children will have to move as a result. The Independent School Council, which represents the private sector, has warned the final figure could be as high as 100,000.

Private schools are also planning legal challenges to the policy, which may breach the European Convention on Human Rights.

Ms Phillipson defended the tax raid, which has been criticised as anti-aspirational, by arguing that private schools are now only used by the very wealthy.

“Private schools, because they’ve whacked up their fees way beyond inflation year after year, have priced themselves out of the reach of many middle-class parents who would, in the past, have looked to independent schools and might have considered it as an option,” she said.

“I respect the rights of parents to decide where they choose to educate their children. If they determine that the best place for their child is within a private school, that’s absolutely their right.”

Her comments suggest Labour sees private education as the domain of very rich families, who can afford to absorb the cost of fees going up by 20 per cent.

The average cost of a day place at a private school is now £18,000 per year, but that masks huge differences based on factors including geography and facilities. Fees range from as little as £4,250 per year at some smaller independent schools to almost £32,000 at the largest and most prestigious institutions.

Private school fees rose by an average of 8 per cent for the 2023-24 academic year, while the inflation rate for the 12 months up to last September was 6 per cent. Labour has said that charging VAT on those fees will raise £1.6 billion a year, which it plans to use to hire 6,000 new teachers for the state sector.

Ms Phillipson said: “I just believe that we need to make sure we’re prioritising public money, and we shouldn’t be giving unjustified tax breaks to private schools, who are their own businesses and can make choices about how they manage their budgets and can plan accordingly.”

The Tories have argued the policy will raise nowhere near the amount claimed by Labour because it will force pupils into the state sector. Treasury analysis has found that the resulting cost of educating those pupils in the state sector would range from £350 million to £650 million a year.

Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, told The Telegraph in an interview last week that Labour’s sums did not add up.

She said: “Parents get the right to choose what to do with their income. If people work and pay tax into our economy, they then have their own money to choose what they want to do with it.

“To then say that if they choose to pay for private school for their child, saving the state about £6,000 or £7,000 per pupil at secondary, then that is actually a tax break, it’s not a tax break.

“They’re actually saving the state because they’re paying out of post-tax income. It’s almost ridiculous framing.

‌“It just shows you first of all, how much they’ve contorted the facts to make it sound like it’s reasonable and secondly how their ideology puts politics before people.”

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