To think putting vat on private healthcare when many people use it because the NHS won't treat them is monstrously cruel

Even then that is optional. No-one is legally mandated at birth to become a doctor. These choose that career route. The VAT could be set variably based on requirements. If you want to study engineering/medicine zero. If you want to study geography 20%.

"I think it's true for a lot of parents choosing private education - keep the plebs away from their PFBs (and later borns)"

A) get new friends
B) where is your evidence for this claim 🤔

Really surprised at the opposition to VAT on private healthcare. There was overwhelming support for VAT on private education. Whats the difference?

I pay VAT on private education for my dc with SEN, they don’t have ehcps so full vat payable. We pay for private healthcare, our of pocket not from employer. It would be entirely logical (albeit annoying) to have VAT charged in future.

and for the pp who said people who pay for private health and schools are “elitist” : I don’t know who you associate with but I suggest you get some new friends. I don’t know anyone who’s ever considered not waiting 18 months for a basic operation, or wanting a class smaller than 30 for their child with inattentive adhd and hearing loss as “elitiist”.

We have "free" NHS healthcare.

University isn't compulsory for majority of people, it's optional unless you are a doctor etc. Most adults don't need to go to university, it's a choice

It's not going to be pensions or, it's going to be pensions and, when it comes to welfare cuts, sooner or later.

The wfa policy was fine in principle but the threshold was too low. Personally I think what we have should cover the poorest, which includes those living with £10 quid more than pension credit.

Soontobe60
Most people pay for private education and healthcare because they see it as an elitist thing to do. Let’s be honest here, they think they’re better than the rest of the plebs because they have more money.
Where is your evidence of 'most people,'?

Well, yes.

Optional private education is not a necessity. We have schools, free for all children.

The education of children yes. The optional education of adults has not. So adult education is more important than the education of children, optional or not.

Unless it is one of those stupid little dogs that are taken in prams - those should double tax, since they are completely pointless. I'd allow an exemption of guide dogs, sheep dogs etc.

My elderly parent needed a Urology consultation. Fortunately they have private healthcare as part of their retirement package. The GP did a double referral for reasons unknown.

We had been to see the Consultant and received a diagnosis when a couple of weeks later, we got an NHS letter acknowledging the GP referral, stating that they would be going on a waiting list.

In addition, where I live has a fairly elderly demographic. The majority of people needing joint replacement go privately as the NHS waiting lists are so long and the effect of that wait on their health is debilitating.

Lots of people pay for it out of their own pockets. I do. I work in the public sector and such perks are not available. Several friends who are self-employed pay for their own cover too.

Most of us have experienced parents and other relatives having to pay tens of thousands in cash for essential operations like hip and knee replacements, as the alternative would have been a 2-3 year wait for NHS treatment.

It's no exaggeration to say that being essentially housebound for that length of time would have pretty much ended my MIL's life, as all her other conditions - and her mental health - would have deteriorated greatly.

And there are no exclusions for pre-existing conditions on the policy I have. It's based on moratorium underwriting, so everything is covered once you've been treatment-free for two years after your cover started

The Labour party have always hated the private sector, yet have loved taxing the private sector to fund the public sector, because the private sector has always generated wealth. I think the end game is that the public sector will get so big that it will fall over and will then take out the private sector with it. The NHS has contracts in the private sector to ease the strain on some services and they're all going to go down with the bloated, gluttonous beast that is the NHS. Just my two pence.

I was a teacher for over 20 years and only perk I got was a few boxes of chocolates at end of term and if really lucky a bottle of wine from a parent of a student.

I wonder why.

You mean when you u-turned on their manifesto the month after being elected - that was just weird political stategy.

The optional private education of children has VAT applied.

Shocked I am. Shocked I tell you.

Oh wait...

It doesn't matter, VAT isn't a luxury tax.

2K caviar and boat moorings are VAT exempt. The education of children has VAT applied.

Bloody good idea, the bigger the dog, the more you pay in tax.

Exactly. Reform will cr*p on the very people they're getting the support from at the moment. I can't believe people aren't doing their research.

The government ruled out raising taxes and thats now been publicly retracted.

There's no such thing as emphatically with this government.

Currently biscuits are a luxury and cakes aren’t.

Because these figures were never made public! These are figures from Treasury at the court case and which they've never publicly released because they show that WE were right all along.
They lied and gaslit the public about this.

out of work benefits may be the highest they've ever been but is dwarfed by the sum spent on pensioners. And look how far Labour got when they tried to limit the Winter Fuel Allowance.....

As a PP said, unfortunately most people only want to spend other people's money, and are not prepared to take on a fair share of the burden themselves, .