This is a petition started by a working family sending a child to a private school.

Labour pledges to end the tax-exempt status of education, adding 20% VAT to private school fees and forcing thousands of students across the country, like my son, to leave the schools they’ve come to know and love.  

Private schools aren’t simply playgrounds of the wealthy. Many families make life-changing sacrifices to choose a specific school for their child. This choice can be for many reasons, including for students with special education needs, students of a particular faith, students from military families and so many others.

Labour’s proposal risks pricing many families out of their children’s schools, giving them little choice but to transfer their children into already crowded state schools.  The Times reports that property prices are already rising in popular school catchments as parents prepare to move their private school children into state schools.  

Cash-strapped state schools and local authorities will have to find money, space and resources to teach and support these children. Parents who currently pay school fees on top of taxes used for school funding will now be adding to the state’s burden rather than opting to relieve it by choosing an independent school.

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves told The Telegraph that tax hikes won’t generate more money for public services, saying we had to “grow our way there”. This means no return of the 45p tax rate or the cap on bankers’ bonuses, but big taxes await working families who manage to send a child to private school despite Sir Keir Starmer’s promise not to increase the burden on working people.  

Please support this petition and tell Labour to cancel their proposal of VAT on school fees. Help Labour understand the value of private schools and encourage Labour to create an education policy that truly benefits all children.