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

Talking total bollocks more like.

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

Here is some more from the OP - utter lies and bollocks.

Look at the number of nurses and teachers who can barely afford to live - actually necessary workers.

Instead of arguing that people who don't care if VAT is introduced on private education don't care about children, or are only speaking out of spite and envy, just look at the miserable state the country is in for millions of people after 14 years of the Tories in power. Some parents over-stretched to send their children to private schools and now they may not be able to afford it any more - it might make them unhappy but it's not that important to anyone else.

Nobody wants children to suffer as such but in the scheme of things, it just doesn't matter to the vast majority of people that a few kids might have to change to the state schools that 94% of the population attend when there's children who literally don't have enough to eat and are living such precarious lives.

It’s your misunderstanding of what Starmer called for. He called for lockdown sooner and harder, because that would have meant shorter. He only called for longer when Johnson wanted to end his ineffective lockdown when it was patently too early to do so.

No need to be so nasty to people who have aspirations for their kids. The majority of parents that send their kids to a private school are not rich/well of that is just an ignorant misconception. Most parents are ordinary people doing masses of overtime, possibly two jobs, not going on hols and making do without other items just to send their kid to a private school for a better future for them

You "hope"ing that fees "treble" is just, plain nasty and no need for it - you must be a Labour voter

Got to laugh at those going back to labour taxes in the 70s- !! Hello- we had Labour in between 1997 and 2010 - why not use those figures??

Back in the old days of Labour many supporters were antisemitic, anti black, anti women having a say so no not bs at all. I don't believe they have changed that much.

Has Keir worked out what a woman is yet?

My own view on the private schools thing is as follows (and I have no skin in the game) I think there are better ways of raising significant amounts

I would ditch it for pupils already started - but bring it in for anyone staring from April 2025 onwards - any pupils with proven SEN who don't have other decent options are exempt .

I would also make it that schools can be exempt if they have at least 5% of pupils on full scholarships with family earnings under £60k a year.

My reasoning is it won't raise as much as they think as many schools will be able to claim back to offset- and in the case of boarding schools that will be a lot!

The majority of parents that send their kids to a private school are not rich/well of

Do you have any evidence for this?

@DistinguishedSocialCommentator nope sorry- I actually sent my son for 2 years at one point - that simply wasn't the case- there were a few like that but maybe 5% at best- there were an awful lot who had grandparents cash, inheritances and house remortgages- that's not the same thing- and it's a choice,

When did I suggest that they would increase to 1970 levels - I said they were lower under Blair but more now but there whoever is in power had more to pay for. There is no magic wand and we have huge debts from Covid with no post Covid boom or optimism.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-do-my-labour-friends-send-their-children-to-private-school/

Err hello?
Me and my family 'work hard' but as middle earners like most in this country we are being absolutely destroyed by this government- we can't afford to save even though on paper we look like we earn well due to the cost of living mortgage costs etc etc whereas many I know on universal credit at the moment are building a nice little nest egg with their help to save ISA and having much more disposable income

Yes, the majority of people I know that send their kids to private schools are not rich, they don't get Labour MP's salaries etc, perks of second home and other perks you can look up

Those are the facts unless you know different and I await your "evidence"

Labour is very quick to slag off, put down private schools but bend over backwards to send their kids to private schools even those that ranted non stop against private schools

So your evidence is 'people you know', and 'those are the facts'. Not exactly compelling reasoning.

And you're wrong.

The vast majority of private school parents are in the top 10% of earners in the country. As such, if their income is higher than 90% of the population then they are indeed rich, well off, whatever way you want to put it.
Here's a report with links to more evidence:
https://www.civitas.org.uk/2023/02/24/private-schooling-in-britain-a-snapshot/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20the%20top%20fifth,10%20per%20cent%20income%20group.

I understand that but I still feel as though the current government has been a bit of a circus doing whatever they want, chopping and changing people around and doing their own thing for quite a long time. We live in a democracy and so much has happened I just feel like it's overdue to have a vote. If the Conservatives get in again I will accept it, even though I will be hoping for a change.

The pp was thinking of the 60s when the tax rate for higher earners was 98p in the £. ‘We’re going to squeeze the rich until the pips squeak.’ See, I can even remember the rhetoric. (And as far as I recall, ‘the rich’ meant anyone reasonably comfortable - you didn’t have to be loaded.)
There was a good reason why Britain suffered a Brain Drain.

Tony Blair had learned from the old Labour govt. and the subsequent Thatcher landslide, that treating anyone who wasn’t actually poor as the enemy, was no way to win elections - and having won one, to win again.

If it's that important to talk about a tax system from almost 60 years ago, the actual system was that taxation was on a sliding scale (for example - and these figures aren't accurate - your first £10,000 was taxed at 20%, your next £20,000 at 30% and so on), and then for the tiny tiny number of people whose earned income was beyond a certain threshold, then that extra income, and only that, was subject to 83%, and then unearned income beyond the threshold was subject to 98%.

However, there were significant loopholes and exceptions so hardly anyone ended up paying anything like this.

@DistinguishedSocialCommentator nope sorry- I actually sent my son for 2 years at one point - that simply wasn't the case- there were a few like that but maybe 5% at best- there were an awful lot who had grandparents cash, inheritances and house remortgages- that's not the same thing- and it's a choice,

Good to see the Spectator keeping up it's usual high level of "journalism". Not sure why you're posting an article that is basically anecdotal "evidence" of a few acquaintances. It doesn't exactly prove anything.

We have no NHS dentists in many regions and those we have are so overwhelmed they can't take any more clients its emergencies only - this certainly isn't the case for my family in the south of England who can get an appointment in less than a month.

I’d love to know where your family lives because I live in Tory heartland where NHS dentistry is non existent even for children. Emergencies might get seen if you’re really lucky.

It’s not going to close tomorrow, is it? With only a year to go your child should be pretty safe.

I actually feel pity for people who can't understand that VAT on private school fees is a non-issue for the vast majority of the population, including most people on MN.

I see very few people rubbing their hands with glee, just people who think there are more drastic issues for far more children than possibly having to move school. It's not vitriol, it's a sense of proportion.

With the private schools issue. I still don't get why people seem to think it will "lift kids out of poverty" or address inequality (school inequality or in general).

The real issue with school inequality is the alternative way of paying for a good school. Many better off parents, istead of saving the state money by sending their kids privately, pay lots of money for a house near a good state school (pricing away less well off families).

I thought there was a savings limit, that's been frozen at a pretty low level for years, for people on benefits?

Don't know much about the Help to Save thing but as there's a savings limit to claim benefits, assume anything a minority are able to save will be small sums to cover emergencies (definitely a minority able to save, as the benefits system has been getting increasingly punitive from the last Labour government onwards. Which is exactly why, ironically, there's more need because people are trapped in a cycle of poverty).

Same here Blossom. Impossible to find an NHS dentist who isn't full and it took us a week to get an emergency appointment for my DD in agony even though she is on the books of a dentist. There's no spare capacity.