How Labour's VAT raid made private school pupils fair game for hate

Telegraph

7 days ago

For months Ben* was heckled by local school children on his way home. A group of them targeted him on the bus, shouting 'posh boy' whenever they saw him.
The taunting was so relentless that for a while last year the 15-year-old changed the time he left school to avoid running into his aggressors. He has asked that we don't use his real name so that he remains unidentifiable.
His mother says that this happened in autumn last year, when Labour's anti-private school rhetoric was at its peak. In October, Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, tweeted a viral post in which she caricatured private schools as out-of-touch institutions with embossed stationery and AstroTurf pitches.
Our state schools need teachers more than private schools need embossed stationery.
Our children need mental health support more than private schools need new pools.
Our students need careers advice more than private schools need AstroTurf pitches. https://t.co/Wc55CmVuge
— Bridget Phillipson (@bphillipsonMP) October 5, 2024
Ben is far from the only child who has faced abuse in the wake of Labour's VAT raid. The Education Not Taxation group, which includes more than 25,000 private school parents, said it is aware of dozens of examples of children who say they have been abused on their way to and from school.
Private school children have often been a target of bullies in the past. But the group says the language and rhetoric used by Labour ministers in the past year to justify adding VAT to school fees has poured fuel on the flames, and created a reason to accept this behaviour.
Phillipson's viral post on X, seen by more than six million people, is one of many examples of language some have deemed to be divisive and creating an 'us vs them' mentality. Conservative MP Luke Evans said her comments 'reeked of prejudice and propagates a class war', while shadow minister Nigel Huddleston said they were 'shockingly ill-judged'. Both called for her to apologise.
In April, the Education Secretary accused private schools of 'crying wolf' over the impact of the 20pc levy, despite more than 75 institutions closing since October, according to the Independent Schools Council.
Recent figures from the Department for Education also revealed four times as many pupils have left private schools in the past year than the Government's forecast.
Mary*, from London, is both a private school parent and a state school governor. Her eldest child goes to an independent school while her youngest is at a state school. Mary, like Ben, does not want to use her real name because she is scared of experiencing further backlash.
'It can be confusing because it feels as if Labour cares about my daughter but not about my son,' she says. 'The language Labour has used is dangerous. It's given people ammunition to say things to your face.'
In a recent meeting with other state school parents, Mary says she was heckled and told 'you are part of the problem' because one of her children attended a private school.
She says: 'In my role as a governor, we had to explain the financial difficulties to parents. I was in a meeting and a mother stood up and said I was part of the problem because I had denied funding to the school by moving my child to an independent school.
'There were 30 people in that room and nobody said anything. Nobody stepped in, that was the shocking part. People afterwards messaged me to say she was out of line, but the fact nobody wanted to speak up… I felt publicly shamed.'
'Labour's derogatory rhetoric to blame'
One private school family putting their heads above the parapet are Sarah Lambert, 59, and her 14-year-old daughter Ava.
The Telegraph revealed in February that the local council is now spending more than £8,000 a year in taxi fares to take Ava to the nearest available state school 25 miles away, after the family were no longer able to afford her school fees.
Lambert, a nurse practitioner, says the fallout from appearing in the media has been 'brutal'. While more juvenile comments focused on cliches about their supposed wealth, she says that at its most sinister, online trolls trawled through her social media accounts to find images of her daughter.
'They found a picture and said 'well she deserves it because she's so ugly'. Another one said 'who would want that child in their school?'. It's been horrendous. There have been things like 'oh dear so your poor child has to mix with normal people'.
'Don't talk to me about normal people. My sister works in retail. My mum is a retired social worker. I'm a nurse. How much more normal could you want?'
She adds: 'I found myself thinking, how is this normal for people to be able to feel like they could attack a 13-year-old child? I truly believe it was the rhetoric that the Government gave at the time. They wanted people to think we all drive Chelsea tractors.
'This Sunday I'm working from eight in the morning until midnight as a nurse, but that is not what Bridget Phillipson wants to portray.'
Alicia Kearns, the Conservative MP for Rutland and Stamford, who represents Lambert, says: 'Labour's rhetoric is laced with derogatory language and ridicule of families in independent schooling.'
She adds: 'Whether ministers like it or not, their responsibilities extend to the education of all children. Yet the Secretary of State has made her priorities clear, having not visited a single independent school since taking office, while meeting with trade unions weekly.
'Education shouldn't be an experiment in class warfare, our children deserve better. Yet Labour's rhetoric lays bare their envy and blind pursuit of ideology irrespective of the consequences for all families and children.'
The Department for Education was approached for comment.