In the Lords on 13 March, Alistair Lexden once more condemned Labour’s imposition of VAT on independent school fees.He spoke as President of the Independent Schools Association whose 700 members, mainly small schools, are now at serious risk of damage or closure.
He asked the following four questions:
“What have the Government to say to the mother of a child with special needs whose independent school is closing because of their education tax? She writes to me: ‘shell-shocked doesn’t cover it. My child is autistic. State secondary was an utter disaster. She felt safe and happy. Her heart is broken’”.
“What have they to say to the head of a small independent school in Derbyshire with 120 pupils who writes to me: ‘I am battling tirelessly to save my life’s work’”?
“How would members of the Government feel if they were forced to move their child to a new school in the middle of an academic year, particularly if exams were in the offing”?
“How should the sudden imposition of an unprecedented education tax on 1 January, after a rushed consultation last summer when schools were on holiday, be described? Just one word does it: cruel.”
The Government Minister who replied to these questions unsurprisingly failed to give helpful or constructive answers, but he did at least “pay tribute” to the questioner’s “involvement in this sector.”
