How parents will foot the bill for private schools' expensive defeat

Private schools have a good argument to make about why they should be exempt from VAT. However, a new poll for The Scotsman demonstrates they have not been making it effectively. While 52 per cent of those polled backed Labour’s plan to charge VAT on fees, just 16 per cent opposed the idea, which can’t be much more than the number of people who went to private school, are related to someone who did, or send their children to one.

The main argument is that VAT will mean higher fees, forcing some parents to turn to the taxpayer to fund their children’s education in state schools. Estimates of the number of pupils affected in Scotland vary from between 900 and 6,000 pupils. If it's the higher number, hard-pressed councils could struggle to cope.

So private school parents, the parents forced to remove their children, and taxpayers could all end up paying one kind of cost or another for Labour’s increased VAT revenue – and for private schools’ failure to lobby politicians effectively. A warning many institutions would do well to heed.

Private schools seek UK Labour talks over fears 'regrettable' VAT blow will hit hardest in Scotland