Lady Arabella Montgomery elegantly sips her organic nettle and dandelion tea, the morning sun glinting off her antique, silver teaspoon. She delicately dabs one corner of her mouth with a floral napkin and spoons the last of her gooseberry and cinnamon yoghurt.
Suddenly, her butler appears in the doorway, trembling slightly. Upon the silver platter he carries, lies the Daily Mail.
Arabella snatches the paper. Her manicured fingers shake as she reads the headline: Labour to Slap VAT on Private Schools.
She gasps. ‘Rupert, get me my Apple Mac Computer, … I am going on Facebook!”
‘No, ma’am, surely it hasn’t come to this.’
‘Rupert, this is class warfare!’
Challenging the Status Quo
Jokes aside, the condescending entitlement that often comes from Britain’s upper class must be challenged. When state school kids have to ration glue sticks like characters in a Charles Dickens novel, a basic question must be asked: Why shouldn’t private schools pay VAT?
Though Lady Montgomery is a fictional character, she is a motif for the entrenched classism that manifests amongst too many people. This article doesn’t seek to demonise the upper class but to satirise outdated beliefs about education. Such as the belief that demanding fairness is just jealousy.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, desperate to create a name for herself, goes into the infamous echo chamber of GB News. Asked what her first action of government would be, she pounces on the opportunity:
‘I would repeal Labour’s plan to impose VAT on private schools,’ she declares, and a round of applause from the so-called politically diverse audience follows.
Of all the problems she could solve, all the buttons she could press. She didn’t even stutter. Not a sentence about child poverty or a mention about climate change. The mismatch of priorities is astounding. And, as a kid from a state school, she doesn’t even try to represent me or understand the sacrifices we have to make to ensure private schools continue to go VAT-free.
If only she had stopped there. Instead, Badenoch went on to condemn the policy as a politics of jealousy. Not only turning her back on state school kids, but waving her finger at them as well.
For the remainder of this article, I will do my best to outline how Labour’s decision to apply VAT to private schools is not jealousy but justice.
The Reality of Privilege
A Sutton Trust Study found that whilst only around 6-7 per cent of Brits attended private schools, 65 per cent of our judges, 57 per cent of members of the House of Lords, 44 per cent of national news columnists, and 29 per cent of MPs all went to private schools. No longer can we shrug our shoulders and see private education as a mere privilege. This system governs the structure of our society. When it comes to holding positions of power, such as making laws, shaping policy, or where representation is essential, it’s the privately educated who lead the way.
I am not suggesting that we should hold back private school kids or that people in positions of power should always reflect broader society. But I do believe in is equality of opportunity, and if we are going to be serious about that, then we need to address private schools, as a matter of social fairness.
Replying to Counter-Arguments
‘It’s a tax on aspiration.’
No. This is a tax on privilege, not aspiration. True aspiration is about lifting everyone up instead of preserving advantages for the few. Working-class families have aspirations too; they just don’t get subsidised access to elite networks and professions.
‘It will overwhelm families and State Schools.’
The average income of families who send their children to private schools in the UK is around £150,000 — £200,000 per year. The argument that these families will struggle to pay higher fees has been blown out of proportion. If a small minority of children moving from private to state schools ends up ‘overwhelming’ the system, then this says more about the conditions of our schools. If anything, it is an argument for investing more in state education rather than shielding private schools from tax.
‘It won’t raise enough revenue to be impactful.’
The Institute for Fiscal Studies claims that this policy will raise £1.6 billion a year and, if invested properly, should fund 6,500 new teachers. This is arguably sufficiently impactful. Equating to around an extra £200 per student, this policy is the first real step in levelling the playing field. But my argument is not solely a financial one. Even if there are small initial costs, the policy’s role in restoring justice by improving the education system would be priceless.
Private Schools are Not Charities
I believe that treating private schools like charities (as institutions that do good for our society) is indefensible and ignores the inequality they help perpetuate. State-subsidised educational apartheid is an unacceptable principle that we should seek to challenge. Fortunately, Labour’s decision to make private schools pay VAT is a step in the right direction, widening a debate that has been brushed to one side and ignored for far too long. Perhaps in the years to come, we will be debating the abolition of private schools altogether. Who knows?
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