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Labour is considering whether to include a promise to impose VAT on private school fees in its King’s Speech, due in three weeks, if it wins the general election.
Gov. Rachel Reeves hopes to outline the details of the pledge, particularly when it will take effect, in her first proposed budget, which is expected to be released this October.
The policy does not require separate legislation and so will not be included in the Labour government’s first list of bills to be read by the King on 17 July.
But party officials I They are considering whether VAT policy should be included in a planning document to be prepared for the King as part of the new government’s non-legislative agenda.
“We are certainly working on the content of the first King’s Speech and have made good progress,” the source said.
Another source said work on which bills to include in the King’s Speech was virtually complete, but the speech itself had not yet been written.
With opinion polls showing Labour is almost certain to win the election, imposing a 20% VAT on school tuition fees is likely to be central to Mr Reeves’ budget proposals.
She is expected to say the changes won’t take effect until 2025 at the earliest and won’t be applied retroactively. The Daily Telegraph Labour is reportedly planning to close a loophole that some parents are trying to use to avoid tuition fee increases, by paying several years’ tuition fees up front at the current rate.
Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson declined to say when the policy would actually come into effect. Sun“Look, if Rachel Reeves becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer, I’m not going to prejudge her first Budget because she hasn’t won the election yet.
“But what I would say is that this has been our policy for a very long time, since it was first announced in 2021, so private schools were fully informed of the changes that a Labour government would be bringing about.”
Sir Keir Starmer has rejected suggestions that some private schools would close as a result of the extra tax burden.
He told Sky News: “Schools will adapt. There have been a lot of cost increases over the last 10, 14 years and schools have adapted to that. And there is no evidence that these schools will be closed. There is no need to pass on the costs to parents.”
“But this is a hard choice. It’s a hard choice. I’m not going to sit here and say this is ideological or this is easy, because I understand that a lot of parents work hard and save hard to send their kids to private school because they have a hope for their child. But all parents, including parents who have kids who go to public middle schools, have a hope for their child.”
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