What’s behind Labour’s private school U-turn?

Another day, another policy shift from the Labour party. As the i paper first reported, Keir Starmer has U-turned on plans to end the charitable status for private schools. The Labour leader previously declared that the charitable status for private schools could not be justified. However, the new position is that the party can remove ‘unfair tax breaks’ while maintaining the special status for fee-paying schools. This means the party still plans to press on with its pledge to add 20 per cent VAT to private school fees.

Confirming the policy pivot a Labour spokesman said:

‘Our policy remains. We will remove the unfair tax breaks that private schools benefit from, to fund desperately needed teachers and mental health counselling in every secondary school. This doesn’t require removing charitable status, however, driving high and rising standards for every child against the backdrop of a broken economy requires political choices. Labour isn’t afraid to make them.