The Irony.. PM's donation was for ‘son to study for GCSEs’

[JustSpeechless]

PM suggests £20,000 donation was for ‘son to study for GCSEs’ | The Independent

Sorry if there are other threads, but I did search and nothing came up.

“My boy, 16, was in the middle of his GCSEs. I made him a promise, a promise that he would be able to get to his school, do his exams, without being disturbed,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“But if you’re a 16-year-old trying to do your GCSEs and it’s your one chance in life – I promised him we would move somewhere, get out of the house and go somewhere where he could be peacefully studying.

So its OK for the PM to be worried about his child's "one chance" GCSE year being disturbed ...but he's not so worried about other people's children feeling stressed during their GCSEs by introducing the private school VAT during an academic school year.

I don't have a child in private school doing their GCSEs. And I know that there are lots of people who support the VAT and those who don't.

But I think there is a midline where lots of people on both sides of the fence agree making this change during an academic year is not fair on the kids in key exam years...and I am one of them because not all parents have a Lord Alli to step in to ensure their child's "one chance" GCSE year is not being disturbed.

For Voting:

Unreasonable - I am with Keir and I am not really bothered with other people's children's "one chance" school year being interrupted.

Not Unreasonable - I agree Labour should not interrupt the academic school year and introduce the VAT in September 2025.

And presumably they had wind of it coming some time before

Basic state pension has less support than pension credit. You do know that some pensioners are on basic state pension and how much it is?

Labour did their own study on 4000 deaths in 2017 but refused to publish an impact assessment this time when they are going ahead

It’s not the case everywhere though. That’s the point. There would be an argument in favour of VAT if everyone could access a great level of education catering for their individual educational needs. They can’t though. Why should we penalise those who are scrimping to pay for private education where there’s no acceptable state alternative? We need to work from the bottom up, not the top down. The money raised from VAT (if any) isn’t going to help improve the state sector. Even the IFS have admitted that.

But that's not the reality we're living in so saying "but life should be like this" is meaningless. There are plenty of good reasons why some children need to attend private schools in the current environment. Making children with SEN move to a state school that can't fulfill their needs or forcing them to stay at home and be homeschooled by an unqualified and incapable parent isn't the answer to life's inequalities.

Even if we lived in a "perfect" communist system where everyone had the same money and access to opportunities, there would still be disadvantage to SEN children who need additional support. Or talented children who need access to elite training in music or dance.

There is absolute no way that the minimal money that will be raised by this new tax (if any) will make any visible difference to state schools.

I get this and that it will hurt some people but in all honesty having to stomach the Tories ‘difficult decisions’ which only ever took things away from the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society I think the richest now have to have their turn to take the burden. I appreciate this is an ideological argument and the Tories on here are never going to accept this.

I’d say a single pensioner on £12k a year paying for everything themselves is fairly poor and vulnerable. The Labour Party are hitting them with this policy. You’ve got a situation now where those qualifying for pension credit are much better off than those who miss out on pension credit by being a couple of pounds over the limit.

Towards the end of your OP I burst out laughing. I wasn't expecting this OP to lead to that conclusion but I should have.

I don't get the issue about these donations. Would you prefer it if our PM and cabinet ministers turned up to meet other world leaders in a supermarket brand suit? The extent of what the Tories did was much more worse. Its annoying hot air over the square root of fuck all because the press don't like Labour. Fecking obvious. I don't even like Labour that much, but I'm finding this annoying. Just privileged people throwing toys out of their pram.

Nobody seems to question how Reform operate. Funny that.

Labour were also outraged when the Tories thought about removing the WFA and then got into power and did exactly that.

And we had warm banks for pensioners under the Tories whilst they were giving contracts worth millions to their friends. I do agree that the optics look pretty shit to be fair - and given Labour seem to be more harshly judged, they’ve played into the hands of people who want to see them fail - but the reality is that life was shit under the Tories for everyone - pensioners or otherwise, and a measly fuel allowance makes no difference to that.

The Labour Party are taking money off pensioners on low incomes though. Hardly the “richest”. Their 2 flagship policies are hitting the elderly and children in fee paying schools. Those policies are not hitting the “richest”.

No one is defending the Conservatives. The Labour Party is taking more money off pensioners though - that’s not going to improve their lives. It makes it even worse. They’ll get less than they did under the Conservatives.

But this policy will not affect the "richest". They won't feel any difference in paying a few extra thousand in top of the £50k Eton fees or whatever it is. This policy affects hardworking lower and middle income families who for whatever reason have felt it necessary to scrimp and save to send their child to a private school. It is these people who will no longer be able to afford it. And those low income parent whose children benefit from bursaries and scholarships, which are now at risk if private schools have to find extra money from somewhere to survive.

The media are having some issues accepting being in opposition. Hence non stories which wouldn’t have got anywhere near the press if Starmer was a Tory becoming public knowledge.

This is a novel way to get a new private school vat thread though.

And the £100k Keir figure is 2019-2024, so the vast majority of that was before he was leader so it’s irrelevant. The £6.4m was also 2019-2024 so a lot of that was whilst Boris was PM. It’s just disingenuous to get upset about one and not the other 🤷🏼‍♀️ and let’s not get started on the contracts to their friends. FWIW I think the whole donor system is wrong in general - no one in government should be getting personal things paid for by donors but I just think the outrage over Keir compared to the relatively small outrage over Boris’s spending (which was considerably larger) is ridiculous

er, the children (who are not poor) are able to go to the same schools as everyone else
accepting a donation of accommodation so that his son is not disadvantaged by loads of press on his doorstep is hardly comparable to what the Tories did

What I am trying to say is that the people complaining about this have witnessed the Tories making the most obscene and cruel financial cuts in the past 14 years and said nothing. Libraries in the most deprived areas have mostly gone, school budgets have been decimated, children’s services are running on a shoestring. Things like youth clubs and Sure Start Centres closed. All of this while the richest have been dodging their taxes thanks to legal loopholes and Tories have amassed millions. You said nothing and presumably didn’t care. Do you really expect people to now feel sorry that private schools have to charge VAT? I know this will have an awful impact on some of you and I am sorry for that but I feel more sorry for the many thousands of kids using food banks and living in insecure and unsafe housing.

I don't get the issue about these donations. Would you prefer it if our PM and cabinet ministers turned up to meet other world leaders in a supermarket brand suit?

I’m fairly sure that the PM, on a salary of £165k a year, can afford his own decent suits. Other people manage to look smart for work and pay for their own clothes out of taxed income lower than that. They don’t rely on generous tax free donations.

im neither a Labour or Conservative voter. I think Starmer’s taking of freebies is appalling and cannot understand how a supposedly intelligent and politically astute ex barrister could not see how bad this looks, nor could his highly paid advisers. Surely his son could have stayed with relatives or friends if the pressure was that bad? The Starmers weren’t exactly a low paid couple before the election and I’m pretty sure Victoria Starmer could hire or buy perfectly good quality clothes at a reasonable price. This makes them look like grifters and no better than Johnson.

Rishi calling the election on the 22nd took even Tory MPs by surprise. The 29th fit perfectly with the start of the election campaign. Presumably he didn’t need it at the start of his son’s GCSEs because we weren’t in the middle of an election campaign.

The richest have pre paid fees so are likely to avoid the VAT anyway.

I don't get the issue about these donations. Would you prefer it if our PM and cabinet ministers turned up to meet other world leaders in a supermarket brand suit?

This is madness. He has wealth. He can afford a suit like other people in well paid jobs.

I doubt anyone would notice if he wore a well-fitted suit from M&S or some designer brand. Can you tell his glasses cost £2500 or would a Specsavers pair look the same?

One final point. As mothers, you are attacking a politician over decisions he’s made for his child. This is a politician whose party will try to make our society a bit less unfair. Do you people never honestly stop and think to yourselves you are on the wrong end of the argument?

@HistoryMmam No one needs to send their children to nursery or attend university either. In England, it’s a choice that in the main only reasonably well off people have.

I’m sorry but the fact you think this is communism makes me not take you seriously.