Sunak and Starmer clash over private schools
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer battled over tax breaks for private schools during Wednesday’s PMQs.
Starmer called for an end to “handouts” for private schools, criticising the charitable status that enables private schools to save money in taxes, particularly VAT on school feels.
Sunak said the government was improving school standards for every pupil overall, and under the Conservatives “almost 90% of schools are good or outstanding”.
He also said, “Whenever [Starmer] attacks me about where I went to school he is attacking the hardworking aspiration of millions of people in this country.
“He is attacking people like my parents. This is a country that believes in opportunity not resentment and he doesn’t understand that and that’s why he is not fit to lead.”
Starmer retorted that “trickle down education is nonsense”.
The Labour party claims its intended policy of scrapping the charitable status tax break for private schools would raise £1.76million.
Critics have said the policy would backfire and end up reducing funding for state school pupils because some families would be priced out of the private sector, increasing the burden on the state sector.
Private schools add £16.5bn to the economy and £5.1billion in tax contributions, analysis shows
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- Misleading headline from the direct quote above
