Patel has accused Phillipson of "gaslighting" over her claims on adding VAT to private schools (Image: Getty)
Priti Patel has accused the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson of “gaslighting” over her claims that middle-class parents back her plans to remove private schools’ exemption from paying VAT.
Labour plans to add VAT onto fees paid to private schools will see 20% VAT applied for the first time from January 1.
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Phillipson claims that she is the “champion of pushy parents” who are unable to afford private school fees and back her plans to add the tax.
But Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary has hit back, labelling the plans as more gaslighting from this socialist government that has broken its general election promises”.
She added: “Bridget Phillipson is yet another Left-wing ideologue in Britain’s most socialist Government since the 1970s.”
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Phillipson believes the move will generate much needed funds for the Treasury. (Image: Getty)
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Ms Phillipson said middle-class parents had “largely been priced out of private schools” and claimed that was why there was “such support for our policy”.
She added: “Middle-class parents in good professional jobs with housing costs just can’t afford that level of fee and they want brilliant state schools. This policy allows us to raise more money to invest in what really matters for families.”
But private school leaders have hit out at the policy which they say will put private schools out of business.
Silas Edmonds, the principal of Ewell Castle School in Surrey labelled her Phillipson’s comments as an attempt to reinforce stereotypes about those who choose to enrol their children in private education.
He told the Telegraph: “It’s absolute nonsense. We’ve got 660 parents at our school and not one of them is supportive of the VAT on school fees. Our parents are not mega-rich, they’re families where both parents are working.
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“Essentially, they’re having to make huge sacrifices to keep their children in the school and avoid the upheaval of moving them halfway through a school year.
“I do not understand how the rhetoric could be spun as if this policy is somehow doing everyone a favour. I find it utterly extraordinary. It’s almost Orwellian in its audacity to say that one thing is actually the opposite of what it is. It’s breathtakingly deceitful.”
Esther McVey, a former Tory cabinet minister, said: “Bridget Phillipson’s claim that the middle classes support VAT on school fees is utter guff.
“From the party that hasn’t done an impact assessment and doesn’t even know which private schools have got VAT numbers, how on earth do they know who agrees with them. Pure socialist ideology.”
The move could force thousands of students into state schools (Image: Getty)
The government estimates it will raise ￡460 million in 2024-25 in extra VAT, rising to ￡1.7 billion a year by 2029-30, which it says will fund 6,500 more state teachers.
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The removal of the exemption was set to have far-reaching consequences, with service personnel warning of a mass exodus if they were forced to pay the extra 20%.
Many military families rely on the exemption to allow their children to have continuity in their education despite their family being forced to move around the country from posting to posting.
The MoD has announced that it will spend an extra ￡9.4 million in this academic year to mitigate the impact of VAT a figure that the Conservatives have claimed could be used to train 250 new soldiers.