VOTE Labour and

[DistinguishedSocialCommentator]

AIBU to feel this will happen un a Labour government???

From what I see and IMO, the Labour lot on the whole believe in aspirations but only for themselves

Older people will vividly recall the the hideous tax rates under labour - between 1974 and 1979 the paye tax rate was up to 80%. Then there was a tax on top of that for so-called higher earners of 18%. This equated to 98%

I don't trust Labour, nor do I trust the Torties. Liberals, IMO they will sell your soul down the river to get a sniff at number 10

As I said I don't trust any of them. But if you are working, worked hard, been prudent with your money and have savings, decent private pensions in the pipeline and possibly a property or two that you have worked for, for your retirement and not wasting your money and want to leave some behind for your kids, GC etc rather than throw it away on the hand to mouth life - then if Labour comes into power, you are totally and truly F'd

Labour rants they will do this and the other - the last time they almost bankrupted England,

If you are working hard being prudent with your money and made sacrifices to send your kids to a private school as many Labour MP's do on pay at almost 100k - they are eager to put VAT on this part of education. The MPS whose pay is a couple of times above average pay will be able to afford it - will you??

Me, my family, relatives have all worked hard, not on benefits, never lived in social housing and not thrown our money away but been prudent to be self-sufficient and pay our taxes to support our country. If you are like us, then trust me, under Labour, you will be shafted hard.

I'm not sure if I will vote tory or an independent but this circus of Tories and Labour taking turns to lie to the nation is not on and yes, most politicians lie and will lie and say anything to get into number 10 and if your feel that is not true, then you must be on another planet

Lib Dem's or green. Better than spoiling the ballot

The rich kids will still go to private school. It will be the ones whose parents stretched themselves to pay the fees (including parents of children with SEN with no decent state school that caters for them nearby). I don't know if it will also affect the kids on bursaries?

The real school inequality is between different state schools. Comes down to whether or not the family can afford a house near the better ones.

If have a job you are screwed.

Yes Labour like to spend spend spend….where do people think the money comes from, and no it’s not just the wealthy…they do love to tax things.

Liam Byrne admitted that it was a silly thing to have said at the time. There was a plan in place to deal with the deficit had Labour not been voted out. We saw how the Tories attempted to 'deal' with it by decimating public services and failed with that policy and they've never recovered. If anything, another 5 years of Tory rule will see very little left in the way of public services.

There will no doubt be a lot of scare stories out about but it's clear and obvious that Starmer isn't going to do anything radical so all these typical Tory tropes that we'll no doubt see are a load of old rubbish. The Tories have nothing left to offer and the sooner we see the back of them, the better.

Really!? That’s the only part you took from the OP and decided to add a meaningless comment and eye roll rather than come back with something constructive, well thought out and relevant to the debate? A debate that is going to be going on for the next six weeks and will be a massive deal for the UK?

No it’s private education that causes inequality. The vast majority of state education is good or outstanding. How dare you say it’s sub standard, state kids are getting the same results as privately educated kids but are hugely under represented in the top unis and jobs. State education doesn’t cause the old boys network.

Best you’ve got? Petty insults?

I'm tired of the sick and poor being shat on from a great height and living in absolute fear. I would be happier paying more in taxes for a more fairer society. People can rant away from their penthouse suites or from the private school car park. However in reality the majority of us are only a few months of missing paycheck off financial ruin or one chronic condition away from ruin to end up needing help from society.

@Hobsonchoice Labour have already stated previously there will be provision made for SEN children in this position

Exactly! It’s amazing what state schools can do. So it makes you realise that private school is just buying advantage otherwise why pay?

The whole lot of them need a refresh. Scandal after scandal and so many MP’s talk bollocks. I would love to vote for a party that was legitimate with great manifesto and could be trusted to follow it through

😂It’s hysterical. After all the shit this country has endured under the Tories a few MNers who see their kids’ private education threatened actually think the rest of the voting population will base their vote on such a non issue.

many parents send their child to private schools due to special needs and are really panicking

They don’t need to, there’s an exemption for SEN.

So, you have a child whose parents moved them from a state school because their SEN wasn’t supported or they couldn’t cope with the noisy environment of a large class. If their parents can’t afford the fees anymore, do you genually think that going back into the state system is going to be beneficial to them?!

There is no mention of phasing. In fact the Labour Party have continuously said that it will be implemented straight away.

Private school admissions are already down by 2.7% this year and that’s before the policy has been introduced. The IFS report that Labour base their figures on predicted a drop out rate of between 3 and 7% and we are almost at the bottom end of that already. At 10%, this policy generates no revenue at all.

No there isn’t an exemption for SEN. There may be an exemption for children with ECHP’s but there are lots of SEN children who don’t have ECHP’s.

I'd like to see more Independents standing (and getting in) but I don't suppose that will happen.

With Labour, I want to know what they're actually planning to do about the issues people are concerned about. People pointing out the state of public services including the NHS, affordable housing, and so on, which is true. However what will Labour do? I haven't followed any politics too closely recently so might've missed it but last I heard they just said something like "We'll make things better" without saying how they plan to do that.

Angela Rayner said some promising things about addressing the housing issue by building New Towns but then I noticed only 40% of the homes will be affordable (and the definition of affordable wasn't clear). The main housing problem is the need for more council housing, and it needs to be a lot higher than 40% of new builds to sort that issue out. Also if RTB isn't ended the problem will never be resolved.

Yeah this. I was not against lockdown(s) and welcomed them at the time, and the social distancing, and the vaccines, and the NHS clapping (don't laugh!) It all felt like people were pulling together, and the comradery felt good, and I just went with it. (Baaaaaah... 🐑)

But after about a year and a half I began to see how batshit it all was, and how truly destructive the lockdowns were. How relationships, and livelihoods, and jobs were destroyed, how peoples mental health was affected, how childrens education was affected, and how we are still feeling the knock-on affect with a whole generation of children/young people who have fractured education, and searing anxiety.

Not to mention the impact on the NHS, and how millions of people are still waiting for routine procedures that should have been done 2-3 years ago, and how 10s of 1000s of people died of illnesses and conditions that were not seen to/checked over because of covid. And so many day to day things fell behind like with the DWP, and the DVLA, and general medical appointments. And nobody could get to see a GP, and many people couldn't get an NHS dental appointment.

I wish it had all never happened. I would be 100% dead set against it if I could see my time over again.

I am also - not a Tory!

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Define SEN.

Hoards of kids in the state sector have SeN and no private education. They cope. A few privately educated kids will have to too.

Private school admissions are already down by 2.7% this year

How can you ascertain that’s just because VAT? School admissions are dropping in state schools too due to lower than expected birth rates, why would that not hit privates? And surely interest rates & COL are pricing some out of privates before you even think about VAT, particularly when you look how fees have increased post Covid.

Same - I was able to specialise, as part of my training in SEN and use this in the classroom. There seemed more time and as you say funding for everything. The curriculum - for my subject was accessible to all. Far more tolerance all round from management, co-workers and parents. Teaching was a better job then.

And I will always be grateful to Gordon Brown for the difference he made to families like mine. It was less of a struggle - you could train and make a better life for your family.

If you get rid of the people funding the state. Who is paying for it. Logical thinking not a strong point?

Me too.

I went to a top performing state school (for the area) but it let me down, just like many others are let down by the state system because it doesn’t meet their needs. In fact over 30 years later the same school is letting my beautiful god daughter down now. It’s still Ofsted outstanding! I didn’t say that all state education is sub-standard but it often is. If it doesn’t meet the needs of a particular child, then it’s sub-standard. Look, I am not anti state school - I have one DC in state school and another in private…but you are deluded if you think “good” or “outstanding” means that everything is hunky dory.

@Hobsonchoice “Also if RTB isn't ended the problem will never be resolved.”

Is right to buy relevant now? I thought the coalition years changed this with newer style tenancies.

The private school narrative is so bogus - no one is struggling to send their kids to Eaton while working a min wage job in Aldi are they - they are doing it while earning 4x's that and why? Because they recognise the advantage it gives THEIR kids over state educated kids - that's not equality

Mine all went to RI state schools - because that's our local school - 2 at Uni and one about to enter year 11 - and I really think pastoral care for kids in 'failing' schools is often a lot better than those in Good school - because they have a diverse and challenging cohort and work hard to support them.

But yeah - all these parents on £20k a year struggling to pay private fees because ...why?

They know it gives them an advantage just be putting that on a UCAS form/CV and that they can pay for lower class sizes and more activities - it's really disingenuous to pretend otherwise.