Private Schools Don’t Have to Pass VAT Costs to Parents, Says Labour Leader

Labour’s VAT tax policy is not an ‘attack on private schools’ but their exemption is ’going to go,' said Sir Keir Starmer.

Labour leader Keir Starmer holds five month old Hazel as he joins party members in Chatham, Kent, where Labour has taken overall control of Medway Council for the first time since 1998 on May 5, 2023. Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

Labour leader Keir Starmer has said that private schools don’t have to pass increased VAT costs to parents, while discussing the party policy on taxing independent schools.

In 2021 Labour pledged that its government would end the charitable status of England’s private schools, which would disqualify them from the tax exemptions that come with it.