VAT: Independent Schools

Nusrat Ghani Excerpts

Tuesday 8th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Many Back Benchers wish to contribute, and I want to make sure that that happens. Back-Bench speeches will be limited to four minutes, and maiden speeches to six minutes. We all love a debate, but every intervention eats into the contribution of another Back Bencher, so I ask Members please to be mindful of that.

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[Mr Frith]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We are not anti. We are for the many and the few. Conservative Members want to remain in their comfort zone following their election defeat. We have all been there, but it is the wrong place to be. It is right that people pay VAT on school fees.

I was at a termly governors’ meeting—Opposition Members will like this—when news of the last Government’s bare-minimum teachers’ pay rise came through. There was some welcome surprise that the then Government had done even the bare minimum. That was quickly replaced by the hard-headed financial reality from the business manager. They confirmed to the same meeting that, even with the 3.5% that had been kept in reserve to meet the contribution they were expecting in Bury to make the pay rise, they would face a budget deficit because the teachers would no longer be on strike. That is right—the Tories designed a system where the leaderships of our state schools have to rely on the unfair treatment of our teachers in order to come in under budget. That is the reality that we face, and it is their everyday experience. There have been no maths teachers for year 11s, and the leadership have been weighing up whether to buy in multiple teaching assistants for cover rather than a science teacher for science—if they could find one. There is a huge amount to do, and this measure will only touch on a fraction of the legacy that Labour must clear up from the last Government and their 10 Education Secretaries.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call Joe Robertson to make his maiden speech.

[Joe Robertson (Isle of Wight East) (Con)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I congratulate the hon. and gallant Member for North East Derbyshire (Louise Jones) on her maiden speech, and thank her for her military service before entering this place.

It is an enormous honour and privilege to represent Isle of Wight East. It is one half of the former Isle of Wight constituency and, if I may say, the better half of the island, only because its wise residents chose to elect a Conservative MP unlike our neighbours in the west. I pay tribute to my predecessor Bob Seely, who served here with dedication, passion and commitment and made a genuinely significant contribution to our shared understanding of Russia and Ukraine, and of international relations more widely. I am sure that whatever the future holds for Bob, he will continue to contribute in that sphere. I also pay tribute to his predecessor Andrew Turner, who served for 16 years and first got me involved in local activism while I was still at school.

The Isle of Wight is known for many things and is much loved, not least of all for sailing. This week is genuinely significant for sailing, as Sir Ben Ainslie and his team have qualified for the America’s cup. The America’s cup was first sailed for around the Isle of Wight in 1851. Unfortunately, the British boats did not win then, and we have never won it, so this is very significant. I send Sir Ben, Sir Jim and the whole team my sincere best wishes to bring back the cup to the Isle of Wight, where it belongs.

The island is well known for its dinosaur fossil records and rock festivals, and as a holiday destination for many happy families from across the UK and internationally. Our biggest town is Ryde, which, together with Sandown and Shanklin, has some of the best beaches in the United Kingdom. Sandown is the home of the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary, which is soon to welcome two new residents—two European brown bears are coming to the sanctuary very soon. In the south we have Ventnor, known for its microclimate and bohemian atmosphere. We have ye olde Kynges towne of Brading, which dates back to Roman times. Brading Roman Villa is a popular visitor destination today, as is Havenstreet steam railway.

However, it is not just the fantastic places on the island and the wonderful scenery that make it special—it is the people. It is warm, generous people like Sally Grylls, a tireless campaigner for better dementia care and better support for those looking after their relatives with long-term frailties, and generous people like Kirsty Chapman at Better Days Café, who help provide food and warmth to those who struggle.

However long I have on these green Benches, I hope to make my own significant contribution, particularly to the most pressing issue of our day: dealing with the pressures in health and, particularly, social care. The biggest reform the NHS needs is to deal with the pressure in social care, to relieve pressure on our hospitals. This Government have said some good things about what they would like to achieve, and I urge them to act quickly. Putting off every reform to a future commission that will report some months or years down the line is not dealing with the issue sufficiently quickly. There are things the Government can already do, and I know from my time working for a national nursing charity immediately before entering this place that we can redirect existing funding better to community services, to help people live at home longer and avoid hospital admissions.

I also hope to contribute to the debate on integrated UK transport. The Secretary of State for Transport has spoken much of buses and rail and improving passenger experience. But we are a collection of islands, and she has said nothing of ferry services. If the Government fail to intervene on ferry services, my residents on the Isle of Wight risk becoming the only community in the United Kingdom entirely reliant on foreign-owned, private, unregulated, debt-laden companies for essential travel—for health, to see their relatives and to access work and other essential services not available on the island. That cannot be allowed to happen, and I urge the Government to intervene.

Finally, on the debate today on taxing children’s education, I remind the Government that not every independent school is a wealthy, famous boarding school. There are good community independent schools such as Ryde School on the Isle of Wight, which make a genuine contribution to the community in which they exist. The Secretary of State put out an unfortunate tweet in which she said that she would prefer to see careers advice in state schools than astroturf for private schools. The private school on the Isle of Wight provides the only competitive astroturf on the entire island, and makes it available to the local hockey teams and football teams. The Government must recognise that contribution.

For however long I have in this place, I look forward sincerely to working with all Members across the Chamber, including my neighbour, the hon. Member for Isle of Wight West (Mr Quigley), to help improve the lives of our constituents, the British people.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call John Grady to make his maiden speech.

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[Stuart Anderson (South Shropshire) (Con)]

I rise to speak on what I clearly see as an aspiration tax. I want to make it clear that all of my five wonderful children are in, or have gone through, state schools. One is in a school that requires improvement because of the catchment area we are in. My education was exceptionally poor. I went to the worst school in the area. I did not get any GCSEs, and when I was handed my results, the teacher said, “There you go, Anderson. I told you you’d never make anything of your life.” My experience of education was not good, but I am a Conservative because I believe in opportunity. I did not have those opportunities as a child, but I believe that everybody should have them.

There are about 1,000 children in my constituency who go to Moor Park school, Bedstone college or Concord college; I have visited all three. Bringing in VAT for independent schools will create huge pressure. I believe that the measure is rushed. It has not been thought through, and it will have a massive impact on all those schools. Some parents will be able to afford it and will not feel the pinch, but many parents I have spoken to in my constituency work two jobs, have one car and do not go on holiday. They do everything they can to give their children the best opportunity in life. That should be championed. We should not remove these opportunities. We should have great state schools across our country, but if somebody wants to work hard and strive, and aspires to give their children the best opportunities they can, we should not remove that. We do that at our own cost.

Growing up, my dad was a soldier, and my mum also served in the military. Many of my friends at school moved around every two years or so. I, too, was a soldier and had children while I served in the military. I know the Minister is a supporter of the armed forces, and even the Secretary of State for Defence has said how serious this measure is for military families. In this debate, there will be a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, but I urge the Government to take seriously the impact that this policy will have on military families. To bring it in as a blanket measure will be detrimental. We will see people leave the armed forces; that will be the cost. That would not be a good way to do this. I am asking for time. Can we push this back? We have talked about what to do to fill the gap. Recruiting more people and raising the standard of state schools will not have happened by January, so we need to look for a time to bring in this measure; mid-term does not work.

The measure will have an impact on special educational needs and disabilities, and people who aspire to send their children to private school, but what is important to me and many of my constituents are military families. I urge the Government to think about that, and come to a decision very quickly about military families, because people are deciding whether to stay in the forces or sign off. Our great men and women in the armed forces need certainty that their children’s education will not be disrupted.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call Antonia Bance to make her maiden speech.

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[Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

You might imagine, Madam Deputy Speaker, that members of the Conservative party would understand how out of touch they are on these matters, given that they were so roundly rejected by the electorate in July. However, unsurprisingly, they have demonstrated perfectly that nothing has changed, and it is business as usual as they leap to the defence of tax breaks for private education. This Government believe in equality of education for all our children, and this policy is designed for the betterment of 93% of the UK school population. Only 7% of children in the UK go to a private school—a far smaller proportion than in the most recent Conservative Cabinet, 65% of which, it is believed, were privately educated. Perhaps that tells us something about why we are debating this matter today.

Conservative Members campaigning against the Government’s policy couch it as an attack on the aspiration of hard-working parents. Perhaps they need to be reminded that the warehouse workers, cleaners, shop workers, carers, nurses and teachers in my constituency are also aspirational for their children. They work just as hard to provide the best opportunities for their children. It is offensive in the extreme for the Conservatives to suggest otherwise, and to suggest that they are less deserving of support from this Government.

I accept that a consequence of this decision may be that some people will no longer be able to send their children to private school, as schools might choose to recoup the cost of VAT through increases to fees. However, we should acknowledge the fact that private schools have implemented above-inflation increases to their fees year on year in recent times—over 20% in real terms since 2010—and this has had a minimal impact on children moving into the state sector. I say directly to parents: should our ambition not be that they could send their child to a fantastic state school that has the teachers and resources it needs to deliver the education their child deserves, and where they can excel both academically and culturally by mixing with children from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences that reflect the society in which we live?

The Conservative party was quite keen to promote and exacerbate a two-tier approach to the education of our children during its term in government—a system in which it is only state-educated children who have to accept tough choices and shoestring budgets. We have schools where the ceilings are propped up by scaffolding, schools where teachers are forced to buy basic school supplies out of their own pay packets, and schools where the workload and conditions have become so dire that teachers are leaving in droves.

I am delighted that we now have a Government who do not believe that state schools alone should be asked to make difficult choices—a Government who will end the tax break for private schools and invest the £1.3 billion that that choice will generate into our state schools, which educate 93% of our children. That is why I will be voting against the Opposition motion and in favour of state education.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call John Milne to make his maiden speech.

[John Milne (Horsham) (LD)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

First, I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Sir Jeremy Quin, who represented Horsham for the last 10 years. He was a dedicated MP, and in my first couple of months I have heard praise from many constituents for his past help. An MP’s best work is often unsung and behind the scenes, and I intend to continue his campaigns on issues such as child trust funds.

I would have to go back very much further to find a fellow Liberal MP to celebrate—144 years, to be precise. Being a rock-solid safe seat in a first-past-the-post system is not great for democracy. So many people have come up to me since the election and said it is the first time their vote has ever counted. Horsham’s turnout was over 70%, and if we had proportional representation, we would see that level of engagement everywhere.

For most of my life, I worked as a creative director in advertising, before becoming a local councillor five years ago. I would especially like to thank my family, who are up in the Gallery today, for supporting me in this unexpected career change, because this is a huge journey for all of us, not just me.

Most of Horsham is open farmland, with patches of ancient woodland and villages that retain a strong sense of community. Horsham town itself is pretty enough to be charming, but not so temptingly chocolate-boxy that it gets overwhelmed by tourists. As the name suggests, Horsham was once a home for horse trading, and to this day it is a centre of excellence in the equestrian industry. Horsham is also where our great national poet Percy Bysshe Shelley grew up. With luck, we will see him around town again soon if fundraising for a statue in his honour is successful. We have high-achieving schools, both state and private, and we want to keep it that way. Many of them have approached me with concern over the VAT imposition.

Although Horsham has never been the site of a major battle, it is where the Dalek invasion of Earth started through the work of Ray Cusick, the BBC theatrical designer and long-term Horsham resident. But perhaps the jewel in the crown of the constituency is the Knepp estate, the UK’s leading rewilding enterprise, which now has international fame. This is no frozen museum of conservation; it is a living, breathing experiment in flora and fauna, where nature herself is the key architect.

Of course, Horsham is not immune to national challenges, from a creaking health service to cuts in public transport and crumbling roads, but today I want to focus on the positives. Horsham is a great place to do business. It is hard to believe it now, but Horsham was once a centre of England’s iron industry. Later we became a leading brewery town, and today that tradition is carried on by energetic start-ups like Hepworth, Weltons, Kissingate and Brolly Brewing, which rather enterprisingly came up with a Lib Dem-branded beer during my campaign. We are home to Creative Assembly, one of Europe’s largest video game designers; Schroders, a world-class investment company; and innovative tech businesses like Metricell, which might one day help us solve our pothole problem—that would surely be worth a Nobel prize.

Whereas many high streets have struggled, Horsham’s is bustling—a shopping destination for not just local residents, but visitors alike. I urge Members to join us at the Carfax bandstand on a Friday evening in the summer, where the district council has pumped new energy into the town with a series of free events themed on everything from ska, ABBA, Pride and Bollywood to German oompah music. After a quietish first 1,000 years, Horsham is learning how to party. Whereas other communities have been losing their local theatres, ours is getting a multimillion-pound investment to help the council reach its net zero targets. After the last revamp, under the Tories, the theatre reopened with that surefire box office attraction, “An Evening With Ann Widdecombe”. I wonder if she is still available.

As a constituency that is now half town, half rural, Horsham plays a lead role in striking a balance between competing needs. We have large areas of productive farmland, making a valuable contribution to food security, but the same land is under pressure to provide housing and renewable energy installations. All of these are positive things, but the same land cannot do them all at once.

If there is one thing I would like to focus on during my term, it is housing. I strongly support the new Government’s house building ambitions, but I am surprised and disappointed to see that they are using the same flawed system to fix local targets as before, except with a bigger stick. The standard method, as used since 2018, has been shown to be a hopelessly inaccurate way of assessing local need, nor will it ever make housing more affordable. In Horsham, the average price of a new house is higher than that of the existing stock, so the more we build, the higher our target goes—the exact reverse of what is supposed to happen. Horsham already has 13,500 unbuilt permissions. We will be forced to continue building houses that people cannot afford to satisfy a local need that does not exist, while heaping further stress on to already overloaded local services— and then we are surprised when people say they do not like it.

Just to make things more complicated, Horsham has its own unique challenge, known as water neutrality, which restricts water use for environmental reasons. We are caught between two Government directives that completely contradict each other. One rule says we have to build a fixed number of houses per year, but the other rule says we are not allowed to build any houses at all because we cannot use any more water without damaging the environment. We are being punished for failing to build the houses we are not allowed to build. This is a planning system devised by Kafka, not Beveridge.

For all the challenges, I would like people to see Horsham as a place of opportunity. For everything that is going wrong, something else is going right. It is a huge honour to represent the people of Horsham—one that I never expected to have. As someone who campaigned on a promise to serve as a constituency MP, I could not ask for a better constituency to work for.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

To make sure that we get in as many valuable contributions as possible, Back-Bench speeches will now be limited to three minutes. Please be mindful.