VAT: Independent Schools

Chris Vince Excerpts

Tuesday 8th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to speak in this debate.

I find it incredible that, after 14 years and an abysmal record on education, Conservative Members want a debate on education, but somehow I am not surprised. I often joked that, if they had the opportunity, they would blame teachers for the sinking of the Titanic—although I was told that they had actually done so recently.

As a former teacher, I saw the Conservative Government’s abysmal record on education at first hand. In fact, I am standing here in this House because of it. When the former Member for Surrey Heath declared that the majority of teachers were letting down the children that they teach, I saw red. I knew that only those people who donned the red rosette could fix the mess created by 14 years of ideological cuts. Between 2010 and 2020, spending per pupil in England fell by 9% in real terms. One in eight schools were in deficit by the end of 2023, and two out of three local authorities are struggling to find funding for SEND provision in their schools.

In 2022, 40% of trainee teachers failed to qualify and left because of the unmanageably high workload. Having recently spoken to several teachers in Essex, I know the profound impact that 14 years of Tory mismanagement has had on their mental health. But it is worse than that. In 2012, Essex county council first raised with the Government the issue of RAAC in our schools, and the Government said that there was no money to fix it. Now, in 2024, the failure to properly tackle this issue has been borne out. Last week I visited Jerounds primary school, one of the many brilliant primary schools in Harlow, which is currently unable to provide hot food to its children because its kitchen is still closed due to RAAC. Sir Frederick Gibberd school in Harlow cost £29 million to build, and because of the failure of the last Government is having to be pulled down.

The education system is broken, and it is broken by Tory design. Labour has a plan to fix the education system, but it requires difficult decisions. Removing the tax exemption on private schools is not the politics of envy, but it is a necessary action, which will generate between £1.3 billion and £1.5 billion for the UK Government—to invest in our schools, to invest in our teachers, and to provide the people of Harlow, of Essex and across our country with the best possible education. I will take no lectures from the Conservative party about education.