We know all the anti Labour posts are really just about VAT on school fees!

I don't send my kids to private school.

My kids go to the local comp.

I am angry with Labour for tanking the economy - taxing jobs is a route to recession not growth. In the meantime they have already spent over £1bn on consultants while in power and totally failed to curb waste including pointless and expensive diversity jobs, and are now spending nearly £11m on a trial of puberty blockers in kids. They are completely oblivious to growing racial tensions and seem hell bent on pushing a definition of “islamophobia” on an already restless population despite the fact that child rape gangs were able to flourish for fear of people being labelled as racist or Islamophobic. Every choice they make is the wrong one.

the tories were incompetent, Labour are also incompetent.

No envy, my child goes to private school and we just pay the VAT without complaining…why do you believe you deserve a tax break? Entitled

Does being misogynist and classist give you a buzz? How sad.

Which is fine. Off they pop to state school. Like most people.

agree OP, the ‘we’re just hardworking, striving parents making sacrifices to prioritise our kids education ‘ Anti VAT posters weirdly enough weren’t getting much sympathy over losing their tax breaks so they diversified…

I have no kids. I still think Starmer is self serving. Angela from housing is thick and Rachel from accounts lied about her CV

What a stupid post. Lots of 'Little Arabella's won't be able to go to private school now, and their parents will instead take up more space at good state schools and increase property prices near them, ensuring poorer children now have even less access to a good education.

ETA I personally know three families who were planning on private secondary for their kids but are now going state - two of whom are moving next to the school.

At huge financial cost and disruption to our lives so that the politics of envy can spite people. It's looking like it will cost them more than they will make, but they don't care, it's just spiteful, with school fees, with farmers, with nondoms that employ people. It's going to be a mess in five years time.

Then move house

PLUS Elderly people often are too weak or frail to do heavy housework eg hoovering/cleaning bathrooms etc on their own so need a cleaner. They cannot cut their own toe nails so have to get them done professionally, their arms are too weak to shampoo and dry their hair so they go to a hairdresser. This all mounts up. It's not a luxury...it's a necessity.
PLUS elderly people feel the cold FAR more than younger people do

Starmer and Reeves are terrible at politics and either have poor advisors or refuse to listen.

I am 100% against any meddling with taxes on education. It can’t have been properly impact assessed and comes across as a culture war policy.

WFA cut to richest makes sense. But it was poorly communicated. Instead of everyone hearing all pensions will go up £400 due to triple lock, but the richest will lose £200 of that which is WFA = everyone up £200 minimum, we heard £200 removed only. They deserve the slagging they’re getting on this.

I’m very worried about the budget. Reeves comes across as booksmart but ideological and slightly vindictive.

I agree, private schools cutting back on bursaries IS a massive own goal - the next thing to go will be their charity status.
No-one outside of the private school anti-VAR bubble really believes that private schools have any real benefit to communities, any real charity status or any interest outside of their own.
Why should they? They’re business that cater to the well off - which is fine, do that. Just don’t pretend to be anything else.

I agree it’s an own goal. I don’t think it says quite as much about honesty and integrity as you obviously do, but I can understand your feelings. It’s not really loyalty - I’ll call them out when I don’t like what they are doing - more that I think it’s been whipped up into more of an issue than it really is.

Only 1% of bursaries are fully funded. Private schools charitable works are crumbs on the table.

It's a massive own goal though. What I am seeing is Private schools cutting back on scholarships for kids whose parents can't afford private school. They are looking at cutting charitable bursaries etc to control fees.

I have DD15 who has ADHD and ASD in private school as the local state is a shitshow for SEN

The consequences are of no relevance. This is a man who repeatedly claimed he had 'honesty' and 'integrity' and yet there are now have countless instances where he has been found to have acted without both. The loyalty from some Labour supporters is admirable but doesn't change the fact that his reputation is damaged beyond repair in the eyes of the British public.

In terms of who is funding politicians it isn’t. That’s all I really care about. Though as I said he should receive whatever the consequence is for repeated error, deliberate or otherwise.

Of course funding transparency is affected by wrongly categorising a donation.

he Should declare things as what they are. Happy for any censure or fine or whatever for things which were deliberate rather than errors. Let’s not forget, though, that he did declare the sum and the donor. Funding transparency isn’t really affected. If the donor gets unfair advantage, we can all see the links and take action.

Mis-categorising yet another donation for clothing as 'funding for his private office' will be viewed extremely harshly by the British public. If you recall, Starmer was found guilty of breaking the MPs’ code of conduct regarding registering interests in 2022 and insisted his office processes had been reviewed at the time. He can't keep rolling out the 'oversight' excuse time and again without being held accountable at some point.

Starmer isn't Labour in the way that I knew as a young socialist. He's a centrist-ish social democrat - which is fine, but not socialist.

I am worried what they intend for the NHS. Blair did a lot of sly privatization and carried on with PFIs, which are now costing the NHS millions, just to keep the cost of new hospitals off the books for Mr Brown.
As balance, I think there are Tories who really hate the NHS and that everyone is entitled to health care at need - they are on the far right of the party and mostly forget that their voters are also dependent on the NHS.
Also forgot, Blair was a Tory.

I don’t care about it, my DC are in state schools. I still dislike Starmer and his version of the Labour Party. I don’t agree with cutting the winter fuel allowance and I think he should have axed the two child benefit rule straight away. I don’t think going after the poorest and most vulnerable in society is ever the way to go and I don’t think it’s what the Labour Party has ever been about. Many pensioners don’t meet the threshold for pension credit or don’t know how to apply for it if they do.

I’m all those things, including being disappointed about some of the gifts. It’s not a -gate of any sort though. No impropriety. No corruption. Rules all followed.