Head of reputable Channing School which Sir Keir Starmer’s wife Lady Victoria attended blasts Labour’s plans to charge VAT on its fees as ‘short-sighted in the extreme’
The headmistress of the private school that Sir Keir StarmerThe woman’s wife has branded Labour’s plans to charge fees VAT about his compensation as ‘extremely short-sighted’.
Lady Victoria attended Channing School in Highgate, North London – which costs £23,970 per year for juniors and £26,490 for seniors – before attending law school.
If VAT is charged, the extra 20 per cent would see parents having a daughter in Channing from the age of four, with a bill on top of the current cost of around £70,600.
Headteacher Lindsey Hughes said: ‘Charging parents with VAT would make our education unaffordable for some and put their children at risk of having to leave school.
‘This would cause significant disruption for children forced to leave school, but there should be even more concern about the ability of local state schools to cope with the resulting increase in pupil numbers.
Lady Victoria (pictured with Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer) attended Channing School in Highgate, north London – which costs £23,970 a year for juniors and £26,490 for seniors – before studying law
Channing School principal Lindsey Hughes said: “Charging parents with VAT would make our education unaffordable for some and put their children at risk of having to leave school.
“This would not only come from Channing, but also from other independent schools in the area.”
Sir Keir Starmer has claimed the policy will raise £1.7 billion, which could be spent on state education.
Writing in her local newspaper, the Hampstead and Highgate Express, Mrs Hughes said: ‘At a time when budgets are in crisis, it seems short-sighted to introduce a policy that would cost state schools money to educate more pupils , without raising the resources necessary to cover it. – extremely sighted.’
While estimates vary on how many pupils across the country will be pushed into the state sector by Labor’s policies, a forecast from the Institute for Fiscal Studies last year suggested this could be as many as 40,000.
Shaun Fenton, the headmaster of Sir Keir’s alma mater – the £22,995-a-year Reigate Grammar School in Surrey – has also condemned plans to add VAT to school fees. Last month he told The Telegraph that the tax attack on independent schools “inevitably” led to thousands of private pupils seeking places at “state schools that are already oversubscribed”.
