To marvel at privately educated Keir Starmer's hypocrisy?

[Bursarysadness]

Both Kier Starmer and his wife are privately educated. Kier's senior school converted into a private school in the second year of his attendance and he has received a generous full bursary up until his A levels. He has built his life and his success on this education, supported to the end by the bursary funded by the same schools and parents he is now trying to destroy. It pains me as my children receive 50% bursaries from a brilliant local school. We've worked incredibly hard to cover the remaining 50% but it has been worth it, seeing how my children blossomed. We had a very different experience in their primary state schools, including bullying and racism. We don't live in a great area. We have just been told that the school will probably reduce all their bursaries to be able to lower the fees for the non bursary parents who are now struggling because of the VAT introduction. I don't know what the future for my children is now and they have so many close friends where they are. They are both academically brilliant and work very hard - hence the bursaries were granted. I feel so depressed that, from what is becoming obvious, they won't be able to benefit from the generosity of bursaries the same way Kier Starmer did when he was a child ..

But why not increase tax across the board to pay for what’s needed? Because the 93% wouldn’t like that. The same 93% that this policy is aimed at appeasing.
My oldest is in a state primary. A primary propped up by a very active PTA. I agree, a cash injection is needed.
i just disagree that this policy will have the impact, financially, that it desperately needs to have.
I wish politicians would start making decisions aimed at fixing problems, rather than winning votes.

Agree. The VAT on school fees will do nothing to improve state schools as the money raised is so minimal. But raising income tax (which would make a difference) has been ruled out. Labour are using this policy to make the public think they are doing something about the appalling state of state schooling, without doing anything meaningful. It’s a distraction.

I absolutely agree @Kitte321 . It's cheap politics. It's like throwing some meat at the group of hungry lions. It's also the reason it's been done so fast - to show people that they are "doing something" while they are not doing anything significant. It's an attempt to win some kudos from the masses who "hate the rich". It's a political decision, not a valid economic decision. Like decapitating the aristocrats during the French revolution. Or the Russian revolution! Same here but less messy. The maths don't add up and anyone with any background in it economics (myself) will see that it doesn't make any difference or much sense.

As someone pointed out earlier, it was also introduced so fast and half way through the year to make it impossible for parents to move children and force them into staying in private at least until the end of the year. This will give them early figures that will falsely show that not many people moved back to state and some vat money has been raised. It won't show long term impact and the figures in a year or so would be very different

Ps. I have two children with special needs I've moved from state to private a couple of years ago. Whoever says it doesn't make a difference has no idea. I also posted on another thread but, during my dog walks, I met people who knew me and suddenly laughed in my face after th announcement saying things like "time to cough up hehe" or "finally rich bastards are going to get it". It feels nasty and pure envy. Pure jealousy

I’ll say it again, as I have on previous threads where this has been raised. I will HAPPILY pay more tax if it means our public services work for everyone. At the moment I am gritting my teeth and paying for private health insurance as I don’t trust the system to care for my family but if the government want to take the exact same sum and invest it in public services to the benefit of all they are very very welcome.

Sorry to hear that, OP. It’s awful when schools minimise and ignore it. I don’t have kids but I used to work with LAC and I’d often stay on the schools neck until they dealt with things like

Missed a word from post above 👆 😆
Things like racism

When else could/ would it have been introduced?

The timing of the election was not Labour's decision. It appeared in their manifesto and was then implemented within 30 days of them winning the election. There's no strategic scheming in that timing - it's purely pragmatic.

If you have anyone to blame for the timing being inconvenient to you it's the Tory politicians and staff who plotted the date of the election.

It’s not purely pragmatic. During the election Labour said that it would be introduced in September 2025.

I have one child in a state school and the other child in a private school (Sen needs) I don’t recognise any of what you are saying. If anything we have spent more money on trips for the government school - my son went to South Africa for two weeks at one point!!

@Dibblydoodahdah "During the election Labour said that it would be introduced in September 2025."

I think that was only a tentative date not a commitment.

Oh come on. It’s a strategic decision so they can say “see, nobodies left” when in reality parents haven’t had adequate time to apply for appropriate state school places or been able to give requisite notice.
It’s bullshit.

It lead private school parents to believe that they had a year to sort alternative provision for their DC. Why announce an alternative date during the school holidays meaning that when parents are contacting local authorities they are being told that there is nothing they can do because schools are closed until September? Why change it to a date in the middle of the school year which is very disruptive for children who end up moving mid year and makes it difficult for schools who have already done their budgets for the year?

So your problem with private education is that it's a rip-off?
Or is it that it gives an unfair advantage to the rich?
Which is it? It can't be both.

@Kitte321 "
Oh come on. It’s a strategic decision so they can say “see, nobodies left” when in reality parents haven’t had adequate time to apply for appropriate state school places or been able to give requisite notice.
It’s bullshit"

To be honest, I can't actually remeber the circumstance where 2025 was mentioned so I can't really comment

You should have been following the news over the last months. Before you comment

But they said it, it was picked up on and published extensively and it feels like they have rowed back on what their said during the election which (as someone who votes Labour and is ambivalent about being asked to pay VAT on school fees) feels shitty and underhand. I thought Labour had more class than that.

No class, just envy and hatred. I'm not a Tory voter but, from now, Labour has lost my vote forever and they've already lost my 17 year old son too.

I don’t know about envy and hatred, but it definitely seems spiteful.

Ah, well if you’ve somehow managed to get the one school in the country that hasn’t put up fees well above inflation, doesn’t charge for specialised tuition of any kind, doesn’t expect parents to pay for trips, and has a uniform that can mostly be bought from M&S or a supermarket. Good for you.
I’d suggest - well, endless statistics back it up - that you’re at the only school That hasn’t been slowly pricing out it’s lower earning families for 2 decades.

It should have been September 2024. I’m sick of the whining already, can’t believe we have to listen to it until January…

@Shadesofbllues "You should have been following the news over the last months. Before you comment"

Maybe. I genuinely can't remember the Labour spokespeople actually naming a date , just dates being speculated about on social media. Obviously, that doesn't mean they didn't..... Respect

Don't know where that random"respect" came from!!

You don't read much, do you @CurlewKate ? This is one of many many articles discussing this over the last months. I think you just want and defend the move without knowing or reading anything. It must be easier to live your life like this? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/20/labour-schools-vat-raid-after-sept-2025-insiders-claim/

You should be quoting The Daily Mail, The Sun or The Express to get stories that resonate with this level of in people... Perhaps News of The World? Not many big word there