Treasury under fire over private school VAT ads

New year, same problems. Already Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government is in the firing line again – this time facing criticism for private school VAT adverts. Now the Treasury has been accused of breaching impartiality for saying that Starmer’s move to apply 20 per cent VAT to private school fees ends a ‘tax break’. Dear oh dear…

In social media ads, the Treasury has insisted that the scrapping of the VAT exemption on private school fees means that ‘tax breaks for private schools will end from 2025’, adding that the move will ‘enable better investment in state education’ and help recruit 6,500 more teachers – one of its first ‘steps for change’ in government. While one poll suggests that over half of Brits support the VAT policy, the Telegraph pointed out that fee-paying schools are set to increase their prices by more than the Labour lot predicted – with a fifth of private schools including Eton hiking fees by as much as 20 per cent.