30 NOVEMBER 2022 | NEWS
At today’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir Starmer attacked Rishi Sunak over the “scandal” of private schools avoiding VAT on tuition fees.
The Labour leader said the policy of tax benefits for private schools amounted to “trickle-down education”.
Launching a personal attack against the Prime Minister and his former school, Starmer said: “Winchester College has a rowing club, a rifle club and extensive art collection. They charge over £45,000 a year in fees.
“Why did he hand them nearly £6 million of taxpayers’ money this year in what his Levelling-Up Secretary calls ‘egregious state support’?”
“Is that £6m of taxpayers’ money better spent on rifle ranges in Winchester or driving up standards in Southampton?”, Starmer added, citing that the Prime Minister grew up in the city.
“If he thinks the route to better education in this country is tax breaks for private schools in the hope they might hand some of that down to state schools – that’s laughable. Trickle-down education is nonsense.”
Responding to Starmer’s comments, Sunak said: “Whenever he attacks me about where I went to school, he is attacking the hard-working aspiration of millions of people in this country, he’s attacking people like my parents.
“This is a country that believes in opportunity, not resentment. He doesn’t understand that and that’s why he’s not fit to lead.”
Most private schools in the UK hold charitable status, meaning they can get tax breaks.
In England and Wales, private schools with charitable status also get at least 80% relief on business rates.
Sir Keir Starmer said in July that the Labour Party would use tax money gained by removing private schools’ charitable status to invest in state education if it wins the next General Election by “closing the VAT loophole for private schools”.
According to the House of Commons library: “The Charities Act 2011 (a consolidation act) defines a charity as an institution which is established for a charitable purpose and provides benefit to the public.
“The advancement of education is a charitable purpose and so independent schools are capable of being charities…
“Educational charities, like all other charities, must demonstrate that they are for the public benefit.”
