Rishi Sunak accuses Keir Starmer of stoking ‘class war’ with tax raid on private schools
RISHI Sunak last night accused Sir Keir Starmer of stoking a “class war” with his tax raid on private schools.
The PM blasted Labour for wanting to “punish” fee-paying parents like his own who worked “really hard” for their children.
Sir Keir has pledged to scrap private schools’ VAT exemption and use the £1.5billion a year raised from the 20 per cent levy on fees to help state pupils.
But Mr Sunak, who attended top private school Winchester College, hit back.
He said: “Labour’s approach illustrates that they just don’t understand the aspiration of families like my parents who were working really hard.
"They wanted to do something for their kids that they thought would make a difference to them. Labour’s approach to that is to clamp down on it.
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“They don’t understand the aspiration that people have to provide a better life for their kids.
"They want to punish them for that as part of some class war. I don’t think that is right.”
The Labour leader yesterday insisted he was “very comfortable” with people paying for education but he wants state schools to be “just as good”.
It has also emerged that Labour is planning an inheritance tax raid that would hit family businesses and farmers, which are currently exempt.
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The move is part of a plan to close tax loopholes that could raise up to £4billion.
A Labour source last night said they wanted to make the tax system fairer.