To ask what you expect from Labour when/if they win the election?

[Welovecrumpets]

Just curious. I’ll be voting for them reluctantly but I’m not really sure what can or will be done about the state of the country. It seems we’re skint so they’ll just have to tinker around the edges.

We don't yet know that bursaries will suffer though, do we. It's all conjecture at this stage. Maybe bursaries will be protected in some way or there might be some kind of VAT offset for schools for them or some other mechanism.

VAT on fees has been talked about for almost twenty years. I just found an article on it from 2008. It's hardly a brand new thing being sprung on people. It should have been factored into any calculations on affordability of private school fees. If people are angry because they chose private school over moving to be close to a good state school, it really was their own choice. And as for wider sympathy, it would do good to remember that many are stuck with rubbish state schools and no possibility of finding money to move house.

And here we have the combination of spite and naivety which is so typical of the contemporary Labour Party. Full marks

Well done you. I could cut out all holidays (one 'main one per year and a couple of UK mini-breaks) and still have nowhere near enough to send my two to private school if I wanted to (I don't and never would.) Throughout my children's childhoods (they're 14 & 17) I've earned from about £28k - £64k and I've been a single parent for 10 years with no contribution from the other parent. I consider myself comfortable but I am nowhere near being able to afford private school because it's for the wealthy, whether that's from salaries, savings, inheritance, family help with other stuff, whatever. It's not for the comfortable or the frugal unless there is additional help or support being received, especially if there is only one parent.

You should not get tax breaks for choosing to pay for something that puts you and your children in a position of privilege and increases inequality in society. The role of the state is to make life better for everyone and to focus the most support and resources on those who need it the most, not to subsidise those who can afford these non-essential privileges. It's just wrong and the sooner it is rectified when Labour come to power, the better.

This is absolute nonsense. VAT is an EU tax and thus could not have been added to school fees pre Brexit. There was no serious prospect of it being added until it became current Labour policy. And given their complete inability to articulate how they are going to do it, maybe there still isn’t.

Brexit bonus?

Wow - I have no idea whether that is correct, but if it is you have just identified the very first benefit of Brexit! I hope this is true because I'm sure there must be correlation between Tory voters in 2019 and those crying over VAT on school fees. That would be really funny.

Agreed!

May I just take the time to observe how delightful it is to see some posters in a flap as they have realised that Labour will when the next GE and make the country a fairer nicer place to live.

Yet another poster pretending not to realise that there are loads of people who really want a fairer country, and are not going to vote Tory, but feel unable to vote for the current Labour party and are probably also not convinced that the current Labour party actually wouldake the country a fairer and nicer place to live.

It isn’t nonsense. Debate had already started way back then about charitable status being removed and schools losingVAT exemption and parents were up in arms about this VAT payable by schools being passed on in fees. The judicious thing would have been to factor in 20% for VAT over and above any inflationary rise predictions.

😂😂😂😂😂

massive, massive stretch

nice try 😂

Explain to me how you think VAT could have been added to school fees while we remained governed by EU law, which specifically exempted education from VAT.
this should be good 😊

Before you laugh too hard, perhaps recollect that some of the parents worried about the increase in fees have DC with SN which the state couldn’t or wouldn’t accommodate.
perhaps you think that’s funny too.

@twistyizzy why didn’t you use the money to buy a more expensive house in a better catchment area for a state school then ? If anyone’s pulling the drawbridge up after them it’s tories, but that’s ok.

Some really do get their laughs from stuff being taken away from dc. No idea why but there you go.

Are your posts always so rude?

The debate at the time was that schools needed to step up and do more in terms of bursaries, making their facilities available to state schools etc. or they could lose their charitable status and the significant tax breaks (about £100m/annum at the time) that came with that. The view was taken that as a group, they were not doing enough. There was speculation with parents that there was a shift and charitable status could be removed and all the extra taxes would be indirectly charged to them through school fees. That was nearly twenty years ago.

Haha it was a good one. Yeh that’s it 😬

Charitable status and VAT are two completely separate things. The former is governed by (actually very old) domestic law. Changing it is very complex and even silly Keir has realised this and says he won’t bother.
VAT is a creature of EU law. The law exempting education could not have been altered prior to Brexit unless the UK government had been prepared to breach EU law, something which none of them (rightly) were willing to do.
The suggestion that this has been in the offing for years and people should have been prepared is utter rubbish. And yes, when people preach at others in complete ignorance of the true position I think rudeness is what they should expect in return.

them being spiteful and unpleasant usually has something to do with it, I find.

I reckon so. Not good traits

I understand the distinction between Charitable status and VAT. It is harped on about ad nauseam on here. The point remains that the imposition of appropriate taxation for private schools has been discussed for many years in different ways and a judicious parent would have factored in contingency for fee increases beyond inflation. The truth is that Labour is probably still grappling with exactly what the correct mechanism should be. They not even in government yet.

The pp is correct about EU law and tax on education

How can you have a current policy when you are not in Government? It is in formulation.

I have no affiliation with the Labour party.

I have noticed on here at the moment there is a real aggression among some private school parent posters who are riled by the prospect of having to pay more taxes under a Labour government. I think the intention has to be to try to win support for their position. There is a real sense of entitlement to support. For the vast majority of people in the UK, private schools are not even on the table and they just don't care that much. When the group doesn't get the sympathy to which they feel entitled, people are either classified as "jealous" (if they think they cannot afford private schools), "stupid" (if they don't buy in to their position as how could they possibly understand and not feel sympathy) or sometimes both. Then there is the "champagne socialists" category if the person is either well off and happy to pay or well off and it doesn't affect them. These positions do the polar opposite of building support.

I would settle for basic competence in office. Anything more would be a bonus.