To be completely shocked by this - Bridget can’t tell us the impact of the government’s VAT on Education?

[Sasskitty]

Bridget Phillipson dodges question on impact of private school tax raid

As parents and schools complain of chaos, Ms Phillipson refuses to spell out details of the assessment made by the department for education

Bridget Phillipson failed to spell out the full impact of the government’s private school VAT raid, dodging the question when asked about the possible implications for special education schools.

While she said the government has “looked at all of the potential impacts”, her answer failed to provide any real detail on the expected consequences.

It comes as parents and schools complain about the implications of the tax raid, which came into force on New Year’s Day and is expected to raise £1.5bn for the Treasury.

YABU - Bridget Phillipson has it all in hand. She just didn’t feel like answering the pesky question. The point is to piss rich people off. Leave Labour alone, they want nothing but erm oh I’m not sure.

YANBU - Phillipson clearly has no idea what the impact of VAT on Education will be. Nor does she really care as long as she’s seen to be punishing those horrible rich people. Or even better (it seems) the not really rich ones just trying to improve the education of their children as the available state schools were not suitable.

https://apple.news/AO7fcmrzuRaik4stLaPQxwA

(sorry paywall but there’s not much more in the article)

PS. I’ve removed the poll tally, no one needs to see real data. Do they?

Yes they didn't vote Labour in July of course. Not many of the.electorate did. But they always had in the past.

Then they’re no loss as they’re no longer Labour voters. 🤷‍♀️

Exactly. Labour's policy on VAT has got rid of another voting base.and turned them from Labour voters to non Labour voters. Which was my original point. Glad you agree.

Political parties are no longer like football clubs. The code has changed.

You’re delighted, surely?

Of course! It will be the crowning moment of the whole of Friday and it's only 9am.

I have plenty of friends who voted Labour this time round (assuming things would be more compromising, Blairite style), who are private school parents. They just did not want the Tories to get back in AND they thought it would improve the economy&services overall, so regardless of having to pay VAT, they would benefit in other ways, long term.

The problem I have with this current flavour of Labour is the divisiveness and frying the small fish - small family farmer, some pensioners, kids in small preps and SEND kids, council tax tenants who worked all their life hoping to buy their property.
None of this is going to make any substantial change to the bottom line of gradual economic decline since Brexit. It is all just glossing over hateful nonsense. I want to see trade deals, deals with the EU, some actual hope for the future etc not attacking some minorities without benefit to us all.

It is all bogeyman nonsense - Labour’s version of the othering of some people. The Tory equivalent was small boat immigrants/benefit bashing. And we saw where that got them.

Looking at the polls of voter concerns, I suspect it was partly because they were not bashing the.small boat immigrants enough that the Tories did not get back in. Anyway, not derailing thread.

Cost of living was the top concern. Immigration was fourth after health and the economy.

Immigration was number 2. It's now number 1.

Again it depends on which polls.

And again, let's not derail the thread

https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/49594-general-election-2024-what-are-the-most-important-issues-for-voters

I thought yougov was not an acceptable source to leftists due to having been set up by a Conservative?

Anyway let's not derail the thread on VAT on private schools.

YouGov has been considered a reliable polling company for a very long time. Some of us aren’t blindly partisan.

I am not comfortable with talking about 'visceral hate of a politician'. Stirring up ill feeling on an emotive topic may feel like harmless venting but I think we would all do well to remember cases like Jo Cox.

That's fine but it is based on deep frustration with her obfuscating, gaslighting and down right lying every time she opens her mouth. The constant refusal to engage and then deny over 18 months has got me to this point and then for her to say that she doesn't think she represents any of the 550 000 kids in Indy schools when she is SoS for Education is just disgusting. She has a visceral hatred of indy schools + kids and has never hidden it. So I am just reciprocating.

I think it is similar to the way many people felt about Thatcher, certainly my parents still refuse to speak her name. I am not telling anyone else to hate or, or advocating physical attacks on her, I am expressing my opinion and am not wishing her harm in any form.

I have been on the receiving end of hate on this and many other thread, as has my child. Didnt see you standing up to challenge those posters who were attacking a child! These topics stir up emotions.

I understand how you feel and that you are only expressing your own frustration.

Sorry I pressed enter before fully responding and i don't want to edit (doctor).
Regarding your comment about me not standing up to challenge posters who were attacking your child. The huge difference is that no matter how distasteful comments are, they are directed at an anonymous poster or in this case their child, not a public person.

I feel this thread has massively derailed. I thought (perhaps wrongly) that the OP’s original point is to get transparency as a result of this policy - money actually raised or spent, number of children impacted, etc. It is not unfair for affected people to demand to know these things. Even an answer like, “now it’s too soon but we’ll review in 12 months” will do, but to skirt over the answers isn’t great in the spirit of transparency. And yes, this would apply to any other policies from any government as well.

One would surmise that farmers on tractors with pitchforks are a more scary prospect for politicians than disgruntled private school parents venting/exercising their right of an opinion on a quite heavily regulated social media site (at least compared to most other social ). Or OAPs swinging their walking sticks. Which one are the scariest group? Quite fascinating really!

Immigrants largely contribute positively to the economy bar certain groups. Clearly shows public opinion isn’t some sort of gospel, rather the opposite appears to be the case. Or have we still not learnt from bloody Brexit?!

‘than disgruntled private school parents venting/exercising their right of an opinion on a quite heavily regulated social media site ’

Are you referring to MN???

Anyone's subjective view of what constitutes a scary group is irrelevant.

Exercising the right of an opinion is fine. Absolutely okay to express visceral hatred of a policy. Visceral hatred of an actual person is not the same thing.

Anyway, best to move on.

It just seems to be the culture now though. "Tory vermin" ,.Tory "scum" which I think was said by a current Cabinet minister although I may be wrong. Hatred of personalities like Boris, Dominic Cummings, Trump etc. It is horrid, agreed.

Vermin was how Nye Bevan described Tories in the 1940s so it’s hardly current culture. Visceral hatred of one senior MP is entirely different.