The Irony.. PM's donation was for ‘son to study for GCSEs’

I don't get the issue about these donations. Would you prefer it if our PM and cabinet ministers turned up to meet other world leaders in a supermarket brand suit?

I’m fairly sure that the PM, on a salary of £165k a year, can afford his own decent suits. Other people manage to look smart for work and pay for their own clothes out of taxed income lower than that. They don’t rely on generous tax free donations.

What I am trying to say is that the people complaining about this have witnessed the Tories making the most obscene and cruel financial cuts in the past 14 years and said nothing. Libraries in the most deprived areas have mostly gone, school budgets have been decimated, children’s services are running on a shoestring. Things like youth clubs and Sure Start Centres closed. All of this while the richest have been dodging their taxes thanks to legal loopholes and Tories have amassed millions. You said nothing and presumably didn’t care. Do you really expect people to now feel sorry that private schools have to charge VAT? I know this will have an awful impact on some of you and I am sorry for that but I feel more sorry for the many thousands of kids using food banks and living in insecure and unsafe housing.

er, the children (who are not poor) are able to go to the same schools as everyone else
accepting a donation of accommodation so that his son is not disadvantaged by loads of press on his doorstep is hardly comparable to what the Tories did

And the £100k Keir figure is 2019-2024, so the vast majority of that was before he was leader so it’s irrelevant. The £6.4m was also 2019-2024 so a lot of that was whilst Boris was PM. It’s just disingenuous to get upset about one and not the other 🤷🏼‍♀️ and let’s not get started on the contracts to their friends. FWIW I think the whole donor system is wrong in general - no one in government should be getting personal things paid for by donors but I just think the outrage over Keir compared to the relatively small outrage over Boris’s spending (which was considerably larger) is ridiculous

The media are having some issues accepting being in opposition. Hence non stories which wouldn’t have got anywhere near the press if Starmer was a Tory becoming public knowledge.

This is a novel way to get a new private school vat thread though.

But this policy will not affect the "richest". They won't feel any difference in paying a few extra thousand in top of the £50k Eton fees or whatever it is. This policy affects hardworking lower and middle income families who for whatever reason have felt it necessary to scrimp and save to send their child to a private school. It is these people who will no longer be able to afford it. And those low income parent whose children benefit from bursaries and scholarships, which are now at risk if private schools have to find extra money from somewhere to survive.

No one is defending the Conservatives. The Labour Party is taking more money off pensioners though - that’s not going to improve their lives. It makes it even worse. They’ll get less than they did under the Conservatives.

The Labour Party are taking money off pensioners on low incomes though. Hardly the “richest”. Their 2 flagship policies are hitting the elderly and children in fee paying schools. Those policies are not hitting the “richest”.

And we had warm banks for pensioners under the Tories whilst they were giving contracts worth millions to their friends. I do agree that the optics look pretty shit to be fair - and given Labour seem to be more harshly judged, they’ve played into the hands of people who want to see them fail - but the reality is that life was shit under the Tories for everyone - pensioners or otherwise, and a measly fuel allowance makes no difference to that.

Labour were also outraged when the Tories thought about removing the WFA and then got into power and did exactly that.

Towards the end of your OP I burst out laughing. I wasn't expecting this OP to lead to that conclusion but I should have.

I don't get the issue about these donations. Would you prefer it if our PM and cabinet ministers turned up to meet other world leaders in a supermarket brand suit? The extent of what the Tories did was much more worse. Its annoying hot air over the square root of fuck all because the press don't like Labour. Fecking obvious. I don't even like Labour that much, but I'm finding this annoying. Just privileged people throwing toys out of their pram.

Nobody seems to question how Reform operate. Funny that.

I’d say a single pensioner on £12k a year paying for everything themselves is fairly poor and vulnerable. The Labour Party are hitting them with this policy. You’ve got a situation now where those qualifying for pension credit are much better off than those who miss out on pension credit by being a couple of pounds over the limit.

I get this and that it will hurt some people but in all honesty having to stomach the Tories ‘difficult decisions’ which only ever took things away from the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society I think the richest now have to have their turn to take the burden. I appreciate this is an ideological argument and the Tories on here are never going to accept this.

But that's not the reality we're living in so saying "but life should be like this" is meaningless. There are plenty of good reasons why some children need to attend private schools in the current environment. Making children with SEN move to a state school that can't fulfill their needs or forcing them to stay at home and be homeschooled by an unqualified and incapable parent isn't the answer to life's inequalities.

Even if we lived in a "perfect" communist system where everyone had the same money and access to opportunities, there would still be disadvantage to SEN children who need additional support. Or talented children who need access to elite training in music or dance.

There is absolute no way that the minimal money that will be raised by this new tax (if any) will make any visible difference to state schools.

It’s not the case everywhere though. That’s the point. There would be an argument in favour of VAT if everyone could access a great level of education catering for their individual educational needs. They can’t though. Why should we penalise those who are scrimping to pay for private education where there’s no acceptable state alternative? We need to work from the bottom up, not the top down. The money raised from VAT (if any) isn’t going to help improve the state sector. Even the IFS have admitted that.

Basic state pension has less support than pension credit. You do know that some pensioners are on basic state pension and how much it is?

Labour did their own study on 4000 deaths in 2017 but refused to publish an impact assessment this time when they are going ahead

And presumably they had wind of it coming some time before

Hypocrite. Power corrupts.

They are not taking it from the poorest and most vulnerable pensioners though? I think you know this, as does everyone who is complaining about it. The whole thinking behind this policy is to target those who need things the most.

Labour (and Reeves particularly) have such a chip on their shoulder about private schools but can't see the hypocrisy at all.

I don't entirely buy starmers explanation

This is the declared donation

Accommodation, value £20,437.28Date received: 29 May 2024 to 13 July 2024

Don't GCSEs start early May and end towards the end of June?

I get this but if everyone paid their taxes and money was distributed fairly there would be no need for people to resort to paying for education. There is excellent SEN provision in some state schools and this should be the case everywhere. This is what people should be striving for rather than a two tier system. I appreciate not everyone will want to though. It’s ideological and I get that.

How is taking more money off pensioners on £12k a year helping “the poorest and most vulnerable”?

I agree this was awful. DH and I were shocked at the time it all came out and sone schools went back to learning from home, like during the lockdowns. Really shameful.

It’s the Labour Party who are hypocrites.

Paying for your child’s education to access a good school and do well in GCSEs, whilst saving the taxpayer £8k a year = bad. It should be taxed.

Accepting £20k tax free so your child can study for GCSEs and achieve well = good.