'They have one private school in mind - Eton': Education Sec says Labour 'putting politics above pupils' with tax raid

28 June 2024, 08:55 | Updated: 28 June 2024, 09:11

The Education Secretary has claimed that Labour are only thinking of top public schools like Eton with their tax plans.

Gillian Keegan told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that Labour's plan to levy VAT on private schools will put smaller schools at risk of losing students - which could see "tens of thousands of pupils to be heading for the state sector in an unplanned way from September".

Labour has pledged to remove private schools’ exemption of paying 20% VAT if it wins the general election and hopes to raise about £1.5bn a year to increase investment into state schools.

Party leader Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly said he respects the decision of parents to send their children to private schools, but said 6,500 more teachers are needed in state schools.

Ms Keegan said: "[There's] 2,400 independent schools, they've got probably one - Eton - in their head. Eton charges over £52,000 per year per pupil, according to its website.

Watch Again: Nick Ferrari speaks to Gillian Keegan | 28/06

"And every single one of those at the bottom end are at risk of losing pupils, and it is not that it's not it doesn't take much for tens of thousands of pupils to be heading for the state sector in an unplanned way from September this year, which is what they first said they were going to do."

The Education Secretary added: "But it shows how rubbish the policy is because if you don't have a plan for children, a lot of these children have additional special educational needs as well, then that will affect every child in the country."

Ms Keegan claimed: "I always put children at the heart of everything I do.

She said of Labour: "They are putting politics above pupils, and it will actually have a big impact on the state sector. "

Gillian Keegan: 'We need to get the voters on side because we can't sleepwalk into socialism'

Labour has promised that children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) would be exempt from the tax hike.

But just 7,600 special needs pupils have an EHCP, while 103,000 do not, according to research by the Independent Schools Council (ISC).

Ms Keegan said that the distribution of private school pupils moving into the state sector "won't be uniform over the country".

She added: "It won't be in places where there may be some school places, it'll be concentrated where there's lots of people and lots of demand, and therefore there will not be enough school places".

The Education Secretary said that the Tories had "done a really good job in education" over the past 14 years.

"That's not to say everything is perfect but we've gone from 68% of our schools being good or outstanding to 90% - and how we've done that is we've changed our school system, we've introduced free schools and multi-academy trusts...

"We've changed the curriculum, how we teach English, how we teach maths and now our children are fourth best in the world for reading and 11th in the world for maths."

Speaking on LBC last week, Sir Keir said: "I want every single child, whether they go to private or state school, to have the same opportunities. It really matters to me."

He added that there was "no magic wand," adding that it was "a tough choice".

Watch Again: Nick Ferrari speaks to Bridget Phillipson | 27/06

Labour's Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told Nick on Thursday that smaller private schools had had enough time to prepare for tax hikes and should budget accordingly.

She said: "The average fee, I think now in a private school in England is around 18,000 pounds a year.

"Now that is a huge amount of money. That'd be a huge amount of money for the majority of your listeners. And I think all schools have got options in terms of how they manage their budget.

"State schools have had big pressures in recent years, and they've managed, they've done their best to manage their budgets.

"And maybe some of those private schools, including smaller private schools, could take some lessons from state schools on how to make a tough budget."