VAT on private school fees - will it change how you vote?

[Iwishicouldflyhigh]

Following on from the other interesting thread about whether it will be implemented, will this policy change how you vote either way?
For me - i've voted Labour and Tory over the years, but Tory for the most recent GE's. This year, i've been thinking seriously about how i'd vote at the next GE and it wasn't definitely a Tory vote - i was definitely a floating voter.
However, my children are at PS and so i will now most definitely be voting Tory (not just because how the VAT will seriously impact us - child number 3 will now not be going to the prep that we had lined up for her, she'll enter the local primary until secondary school - but how i think that it will affect schools negatively and children negatively).
I have a lot of left leaning friends who educate privately and whilst they cannot bring themselves to vote Tory, they won't vote Labour either at the next GE because of this policy.

It seems to me that this policy is only a vote loser (ie many Labour voters and 'floaters' who school privately won't vote for them at the next GE) and not a vote winner (ie i can't imagine that many Tory or 'floaters' will vote for Labour solely on this policy).

AiBU to think that Labour have really shot themselves in the foot with this idea?

My children are in state. I am worried about this due to the risk the more affluent families will now take up places in the best state schools.
Basically for really selfish reasons i don't want to loose out a place for my youngest child at the local outstanding school they are due to apply to in 2 years.
We are likely to miss out on sibling link (older child will leave for 6th form as they are due to start) and slightly out of catchment.
I am so frustrated my children are all very academic, we live in a nice area and value education highly. But despite professional jobs etc we can not afford private so are dependent on good state schools.
Ideally I would love an equal education system. That will not happen. In this case those with more money will always find a way and those without serious funds get pushed further down.
Ideally I would vote labour if it wasn't likely to impact my own child.
Many will be thinking like me. So sadly very likely Tory will win again.

I think everyone needs to stop panicking on this one. For starters will it really be the first bit of legislation through a Lab parliament? Probably not. Secondly there's a bunch of things to work thoroughly through before it could be implemented (policy wonks take a while to work this stuff out), thirdly it won't be implemented overnight so there'll be some sort of transition period so everyone will have time to plan accordingly.
The tories are whipping up this to scare people out of voting Lab IMHO.

If the people proposing this policy do have children in private school but think they can afford the fee increases that would result, then I suppose that seems better than the most obvious alternative - that none of them use private schools and they expect other people to either suck it up or massively disrupt their children's educations.

NB it's not necessarily the case that fees would rise by the full 20%. Schools currently can't reclaim VAT on inputs and will potentially be able to do so once education is no longer VAT-exempt. Not sure this would make that much difference though, as the vast bulk of schools' costs will be staff and premises.

I think they will. In fact they may have said as much. Plus it’s popular so why not? If majority didn’t want it maybe so

This.

Most people don't have children in private school.

Why shouldn't vat be applied. They shouldn't be treated as charities.

There are people struggling to feed and heat, they won't worry about school fees having vat on them. Different worlds.

Most private parents vote tory anyway including the OP. I'm more concerned about the damage the tories have done to state schools, which most of the population use.

The irony.

It’s an asinine policy in terms of amount of revenue generated. It’s purely designed as a headline grabber/ fuck the rich. Proper corporate taxation measures to catch profits by multinationals that are sent off shore (Amazon / entertainment companies / Starbucks etc) would be far more effective in terms of bringing funds in, but it’s more complicated and doesn’t give starmer a little sound bite. It’s lazy and PR driven policy which unfortunately is true of a lot of what they spout. Wes Streeting is going to sell off the NhS faster than the tories. We’re as fucked in terms of choice as the Americans are.

It won’t change the way I vote as I would have been voting Labour anyway and still will.
I support the policy and believe the threat of it backfiring on Labour is grossly overstated, as is the ridiculous hyperbole around the ‘impact’ of VAT on school fees on state schools. It’s a very small proportion of a small proportion who will be impacted in reality.
I say this as someone who was privately educated and whose family is very much involved in the private school sector (owners and teachers).

Yep

Private school is one aspect of your childrens' lives. Weigh that up against:

Underpaid and overworked doctors and nurses, fewer and fewer NHS dentists, shortage of GPs, waiting lists, NHS at an all time low. Criminal barristers on strike as they are underpaid, cuts in legal aid, rape convictions at a pitiful percentage, cuts in police numbers. Austerity, we were not all in it together. Food banks, warm banks, rise in obesity amongst children, tooth decay being the leading cause of hospital admissions for children. Teachers striking for idk how long, they are still underpaid, schools crumbling, under resourced classrooms. COVID, the VIP lane so that Tory mates could profit from a pandemic, Party Gate, Barnard Castle, all the deaths that could have been prevented. Mortgage rates going through the roof, the constant popularity contest with revolving PMs while the majority get poorer. Brexit FFS! Our kids lives being limited and for what!? Poorer quality much more expensive food, Erasmus scrapped, no more freedom of movement. Constant whining about Stop The Boats, but ending all nearly all the legal routes for refugees to enter the country, thereby obviously increasing the Boats, highest number of Boats ever. Losing half the people on the Boats...I could go on but I need to get my kids ready for school.

I understand your kids and your money are important to you, but seriously you would reward the last shit show of Tory rule with your precious vote? A private school education can't shelter them from every other reality of life in this country.

FWIW we are high earners waiting for private school offers, if the prices rise then I'll suck it up. If they rise to the extent that we can't afford it, then hey ho our kids can't go to private school...like 95% of all the other kids in this country who also deserve a decent education, in a warm building, with enough resources, a well paid and valued teacher and no risk of the ceiling falling in on them.

Sometimes we have to think of the greater good, I firmly believe this is one of those times.

It’s about time VAT will be charged

I think it’s a bad policy, and I am very disappointed that it’s the best Labour can come up with when schools, SEND in particular, are in absolute crisis. The whole system needs a complete overhaul.

But the country can’t take another 13 years of the Tories, and my local MP is good, and Labour. So I’ll vote Labour.

Wonderfully articulated @Gotosleepnow2023

Well said.

For me, this encapsulates Labour thinking. For the many.

To be honest people voting for the Tories after everything they’ve done, because they can’t/don’t want to pay more money on educational privilege, is absolutely Tory ideology.

Not a popular view here I’m sure.

(The vat can only be applied to the education services portion of the fees so not lunches / heating / buildings etc. most schools will have an instant profit from retro reclaim of vat paid so won’t necessarily pass it all in. It won’t raise a lot of money but it will dump a lot more kids into a stretched state sector. It will also dump VAT onto a lot of services that all the “yes but I educate state so it’s a good thing” voters who eg engage tutors, pay for swimming lessons, attend certain types of holiday camps. Some of those businesses will not be able to survive in terms of either swallowing a reduction in prices to accommodate the VAT, or risk becoming far too expensive to be affordable and lose customers. And you know it’s not going to be the ones in Surrey. Be careful what you wish for)

@Gotosleepnow2023 .

Not all private school parents are just thinking of their children.

Agreed that this post sums it up perfectly.

I think it's ridiculous that you wouldn't vote for a party based on one tiny part of their manifesto tbh.

Any working class person that votes tory is an idiot, sorry. They tories do not have the interests of working class people at their hearts, not at all. Thankfully, the number of parents affected by this proposed policy is small, so I don't think it will affect the vote overall.

I think it's a fantastic policy, and will be definitely voting Labour.

For a good chunk of those struggling to just about pay school fees are probably struggling so much BECAUSE of the Tories. The Labour 20% will be a drop in the ocean compared to what the Tories have done to household finances. And you'd vote for more of the same.

How much extra funding are you expecting with Labour?

I think the Labour policy is short sighted and won’t have the massive benefits that people seem to be expecting.

Saying that, I have 1 DC at private school and will be voting Labour.

I vote based on what is best for everybody and not just for my own interest and I believe that Labour have the best interests of everybody at heart.

I support the change. I think having a reduced VAT rate for private schools would have made more sense in terms of winning votes though.

I have a family member who works in what I’d call a modest a private school. Because of this policy, we’re all considering how we might vote because of the possible impact on their employment.