𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

One hundred and five ­independent schools have closed as a direct result of the Government’s ­imposition of VAT on fees. So far, so tragically ­predictable. The question, of course, is who this cruel cull benefits and how? Twenty-five thousand children have been forced into the state system, instantly adding vastly to the  Department for Education’s already overwhelming financial burden.

Thousands of teachers, teaching assistants, heads and support staff have lost their jobs. Decades, in some cases centuries, of tradition, contribution to communities and devotion to Latin, botany, scripture, hymn-singing and Shakespeare callously killed.

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves knew precisely what they were doing. They were aware most private school pupils are neither rich nor rarefied. Despite flights of rhetorical fancy conjuring tales of untold wealth and ivory-towered privilege designed to ignite the politics of envy, the unglamorous truth is most fee-paying parents really struggle on average-to-low incomes to secure their children what they believe is a better start in life.

Far from being scions of aristocratic dynasties they are ordinary mums and dads, many first or second generation British. Ironically, the very same “hardworking folk” Starmer and Reeves claim to cherish. They were prepared to forgo holidays and fancy cars to send their children to schools they hoped would nurture their potential, instil discipline and – most importantly – give them the confidence to mix comfortably in different social circles.

The speedy closure of once-thriving schools proves they were never oases for oligarchs. Parents who can’t stretch to forking out an additional 20% on fees are hardly awash with cash.

I remember my own dad bewailing the strain of paying for my London direct grant day school. He ran a one-man-band underwear importing business. My best friend’s father drove a taxi. Several parents manned corner shops. They put in the hours, earned the money and decided to spend it on private education. What, in the name of the Lord, is wrong with that?

Starmer and Reeves should be ashamed of destruction they have deliberately inflicted upon scholars, pedagogues and those with laudable aspirations. Isn’t the UK a proudly capitalist society? Aren’t we supposed to have the freedom to choose how we spend our money? Private schools did nobody any harm and generations of children incalculable good. RIP.