Yahoo News Labour plan to tax private school tuition fees blasted as 'horrible and pernicious'
‘Horrible and pernicious’ is how Labour’s plans to tax private school fees have been described by the education secretary on the campaign trail in Reading.
Speaking to the Chronicle today in Shinfield, Gillian Keegan slammed the party’s proposals for independent schools.
Mrs Keegan visited the area in a general election campaign stop alongside Pauline Jorgensen, the Conservative candidate for Earley and Woodley where voters raised concerns about taxes on private school tuition fees, and the impact that could have on school places and performance.
She said: “It’s a horrible and pernicious policy.”
Councillor Jorgensen said: “The parents are not all well-heeled, they want the best education for their children.
“There is a lot of private schooling in this area, and if private schools have to close or people can’t afford to use them, there is no space in the public sector.
Mrs Keegan added: “I think it’s a pernicious policy, I also think it’s very ill thought through.”
One parent claimed she would have to pay £10,000 more per year to keep sending her three children to private school.
The Labour Party claim a VAT tax on private school tuition fees would raise £1.5 billion, which would be used to train 6,500 more teachers.
Mrs Keegan said: “The reason ostensibly to do it is to get more teachers to solve the problem we have recruiting maths teachers.
“Well, we have 27,000 more teachers than we had in 2010, and in the last two years 3,000 more teachers, so we don’t need to do this to get more teachers.
“For maths teachers, we’ve put £6,000 in an additional payment on top of the £30,000 minimum starting salary which we put in place last September.
“So all of that will start to work through and have an impact.”
Gillian Keegan, education secretary and Conservative MP candidate for Chichester with Pauline Jorgensen, Conservative candidate for Earley and Woodley with party activists and neighbours in Shinfield. Credit: James Aldridge, LDRS
Teachers in Reading went on strike on at least three occasions last year.
Mrs Keegan said: “When I first got the job as education secretary, the very first thing I had was a letter from all the unions saying ‘we need £2 billion’ to keep up with the previous year’s higher-than-expected pay rise for teachers, and also inflationary pressures.
“So I got that £2 billion which was not inconsequential, but I got that and we put more money into schools.”
People present at the campaign stop also raised concerns about safety for private school pupils going to and from Crossfields School in Shinfield.
Cllr Jorgensen (Conservative, Hawkedon), who is also leader of the opposition on Wokingham Borough Council, joined campaigners in a call for pedestrian crossings for Crossfields School in March.
READ MORE: Call for crossing at Crosfields School in Shinfield 'without delay'
The private co-educational school has two entrances along Shinfield Road – neither of which have dedicated pedestrian crossings.
Cllr Jorgensen proposed a motion at a borough council meeting to deliver a crossing ‘without delay’ in the road.
Parents, pupils and staff at Crosfields School with and councillor Pauline Jorgensen (third from right) (Credit: LDRS)
The motion was amended to state that a crossing would be delivered only if a technical assessment met criteria for a crossing and when funding became available to make access to the school safer.
The campaign stop happened at midday on Monday, June 24 at a family home in Shinfield Road.
Cllr Jorgensen used the opportunity to deliver leaflets and spoke to voters.
Mrs Keegan is the Conservative candidate for Chichester.
