Labour MP accuses families hit by private school tax raid of ‘crying to the courts'

Telegraph

14-06-2025

A Labour MP has accused families hit by the private school tax raid of 'crying to the courts'.
Jonathan Hinder, the MP for Pendle and Clitheroe, criticised families who were hit by Labour's 20 per cent VAT levy on private school fees after they lost their challenge at the High Court on Friday.
He said taking the case to the High Court was 'crazy', before adding in the post to X: 'A tax commitment included in an election-winning manifesto, duly delivered. That's democracy. Campaign to reverse it if you like. Fine.
'But this habit of going crying to the courts all the time is silly. Obviously the right decision, but crazy that it got to the High Court.'
Three separate challenges were heard together in a judicial review between April 1 and 3, using more than a dozen families as case studies.
In a single written judgment issued on Friday, the three judges presiding over the case said they 'dismiss the claims'.
Dame Victoria Sharp, Lord Justice Newey and Mr Justice Chamberlain said the VAT policy was 'proportionate' in its aim to raise extra revenue for state schools.
A spokesman for the lobby group Education not Taxation told The Telegraph that 'crying to the courts' was 'entirely justified'.
He said: 'The court's ruling that the taxation of independent schooling is discriminatory and will have a disproportionate, prejudicial effect on children with special educational needs (SEN) clearly demonstrates that any 'crying to the courts' was entirely justified.
'Without the action taken by the claimants, the government's prejudicial behaviour would have gone unchecked, obscured by the false narratives and political spin used to justify this attack on educational choice.
'While it is disappointing that the court ruled the action is not illegal, it nevertheless makes a powerful statement: the policy is discriminatory.'
Julie Robinson, the chief executive of the Independent Schools Council (ISC), said that schools were 'right' to have escalated the challenge to the High Court.
The ISC was part of the legal challenge and represents more than 1,400 private schools.
'This is an unprecedented tax on education and it is right that its compatibility with human rights law was tested,' she said.
'Thousands of families have already been negatively affected by the policy, with more than 11,000 children leaving independent education since last year – far more than had been anticipated by the government.
'As the court noted, there was interference with human rights and this policy is likely to have an outsized impact on families of faith and children with SEND but without an EHCP.'
In the wake of the VAT hike, private schools across the country have been forced to close.
Queen Margaret's School for Girls in York said it had been forced to make the 'deeply distressing' decision to close following Labour's VAT raid.
The £43,000-a-year boarding school said it was 'unable to withstand mounting financial pressures' after the introduction of the tax in January led to student enquiries 'declining sharply'.
According to the school's website, the enrolment numbers for the coming academic year were below the level needed to keep the school open. The 'heart-wrenching' decision was taken after failing to secure fresh investment.
The school also blamed 'increased national insurance and pension contributions, the removal of charitable-status business rates relief, and rising costs for the upkeep and operation of our estate'.
Queen Margaret's alumni include the socialite Manners sisters – Lady Violet, Lady Alice, and Lady Eliza – daughters of the 11th Duke and Duchess of Rutland.
The independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 was due to celebrate its 125th anniversary next year. It will close at the end of their summer term on July 5.
Alicia Kearns, the shadow minister for home affairs, described the tweets as 'class warfare'.
She said: 'Parents in my communities have been put through enormous stress and their children's education disrupted.
'They do not deserve the ridicule of Labour MPs indulging in class warfare and crowing about manifesto promises whilst glaringly silent on the extra money promised for state schools.
'No sign of keeping that promise, quite the opposite as state schools struggle and Labour Ministers this week admit their funding is insufficient to cover staff pay rises next year, and the NEU calling it a 'crisis in funding'.
'I wouldn't be quite so glib if my ideological experiment had left our state schools worse off.'