Energy Secretary accused of 'hypocrisy' after sending her children to private school while backing VAT raid
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake accused the Peckham MP of displaying “classic champagne socialism”.
A Labour Cabinet minister has been accused of hypocrisy after it has emerged she sends all three of her children to private school.
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Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh confirmed to the Mail on Sunday that her children are privately educated, despite backing Labour's decision to impose VAT on private school fees.
Ms Fahnbulleh, 46, declined to say how much the family spends on fees, but the MP and her City trader husband, Graham, are believed to pay at least £50,000 a year.
It comes after Labour removed the VAT exemption on private school fees - a policy critics say has priced thousands of families out of independent education.
Figures suggest 30,000 children have left independent schools since the policy was introduced, double the Government’s original estimate.
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Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake accused the Peckham MP of displaying “classic champagne socialism”.
He said: “Parents who are now unable to afford to send their kids to private school will no doubt feel aggrieved over this hypocrisy.”
Ms Fahnbulleh, who represents Peckham - where around 40% of children live in poverty - has previously spoken about the growing divide between wealthy and struggling families in the area.
In her maiden Commons speech, Ms Fahnbulleh said Peckham had taught her: “You can work hard every day and still live in poverty.”
“Our kids can be talented but still be deprived a shot,” she said, adding: “You can have billionaires living in the same borough as families that cannot feed their kids.”
She also warned: “Our schools, youth services, hospitals and care system are at breaking point, and children in my schools tell me that they only feel safe at home or at school – nowhere in between."
The Peckham MP, who was made Energy Secretary in Andy Burnham's first Cabinet, is the first refugee to sit around a Labour Cabinet table.
She was privately educated herself, attending the Beechwood School in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, where fees are as much as £8199 per term.