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I don’t disagree at all. You’re making this argument whilst simultaneously holding the view that this VAT increase won’t force people out private education. To put one child through private education you’re looking at £3k per year. Secondary school is between 5-7 years so that’s a commitment...

Is that equality of opportunity or equality of outcome? Would you rather lower standards of educational outcomes if it meant more equity than higher standards across the board at the cost of more inequality? The two go hand in hand unfortunately. This policy is regressive, not progressive.

I’m curious, why?

You may have missed the point… Well, £3,000 per child, per year is a steeper increase than the energy bills. It’s a 5-7 year commitment for most families if it’s just secondary school.

By making private education more unaffordable for upper working and middle class families? If anything, a policy should be looking to make private education more affordable or accessible for working class families. If @SIR ERNIE’s case study is replicated up and down the country, it’s a policy...

The principle being envy.

My purchasing power was reduced. Inflation and wages are two independent issues. It’s a sleight of hand of term to frame things as cuts that aren’t. Back on track, the private sector doesn’t increase its spending in line with inflation because it’s not always necessary to do. Successful private...

Nope, you and your daughter are wrong. @skybluetony176 says the impact will be a % of a percentage. That’s an £88,000 cost the taxpayer versus a VAT tax take of £57,000 for the remainder of the class. That’s a net gain of -£31,000…

Why? Because the post I quoted stated the finding for the NHS had been reduced, the opposite is true. The funding hasn’t kept up with inflation - it’s not the same. I got a 3% pay raise the year inflation was at 10%. My pay wasn’t reduced by 7%.

It’s mean spirited and punishes aspirational people. If you’re raising a levy to increase funding for state education and then you fuel increase demand for the state sector, you’re cutting off your nose to spite your face. If the private sector responds by getting wealthy foreign students, all...

Reduced? YoY the spending has increased roughly 2.8%. The only ‘cuts’ are ‘real terms’. Even Labour accepts (in theory) it can’t just give the NHS major cash without reform. Again, PFI was an attempt by the Blair government to privatise the day-to-day spending of the NHS - a clever balance...

Agreed and the demand for health and social care services is only increasing. The NHS is a really interesting ‘issue’ and if Labour cannot ‘fix’ or at least improve things, it will be the start of a v difficult national conversation around how we fund healthcare. A process that even Tony Blair...

Yes 😂

You can’t lose if you don’t have a horse in the race. The winner of this election probably isn’t going to do anything particularly transformative. Here’s to 5 more years of stagnation…

The NHS already takes up around 40% of government spending.That is one public service. To use the NHS as an example, the funding has increased from pre-COVID levels but not the productivity hasn’t recovered despite that increase. Productivity is a particular problem in this country and in the...

Firstly, people have a right to question experts and not take everything they do and say as gospel. What would be the point of democracy if we can outsource government to a technocratic elite if the experts were always right. This policy will not set out what is intended to do. Even he Guardian...

2+2=5 here my friend. I just made an observation that your approach seems to be to just throw more money at whatever issue it is. Which is, at least, as damaging as austerity.

Have you watched the TV show ‘In The Thick of It?’ If not, you should because it’s a great show. Secondly, there’s a plot where the main character tells the minister to ‘find an expert’ who agrees with government policy. The takeaway here is that anyone can find an expert who justifies their...

That’s such a low resolution response. How do you that? The IMF is already saying we need more spending cuts and tax raises. With interest rates being relatively higher there’s a looming debt crisis. Liz Truss sparked a near economic crisis by suggesting relatively inexpensive tax cuts and the...

Those people who can no longer afford private education, where will they go? State schools. Which is a sector already under strain. The point of the tax is to raise revenue and if people change behaviour (i.e. withdraw from the activity/service) all you have done is put more strain on our...