Though ending charitable status is safe ground for Labour, only structural change will bridge education inequality
That high-pitched noise you can hear in the distance is the sound of the Daily Mail weeping with relief. On Wednesday, the Labour party attempted to force a binding vote on ending private schools’ tax breaks. The motion to set up a new committee to investigate private schools’ “charitable status” failed by 303 to 197, but in many ways Keir Starmer got what he wanted: he skewered the government’s record on education, and highlighted unrest among staff. The £1.7bn a year that would be raised by scrapping tax breaks – which include 80% relief on business rates and exemption from VAT on school fees – Starmer pointed out, could be used to recruit 6,500 new teachers.
It is a smart move to frame ending private schools’ tax breaks as a means to improve the quality of state education. A staggering nine out of 10 schools in England will run out of money by the next school year owing to the burden of increased energy and salary bills. While state school teachers are having to buy their own class books, it feels particularly obscene to spend public money helping wealthy parents buy more advantage. At a time when many families are struggling to afford the heating, there will be little public sympathy for the upper middle classes complaining about slightly higher school fees.
Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist
