Do Labour’s plans for Britain’s private schools make sense?

For decadesVAT), on and off, the Labour Party has been promising to take a harder line on private, fee-paying schools. Before the general election in 2019 it pledged to explore ways of “integrating” them into the public sector. That idea has been dropped, along with one to strip private schools of their charitable status.But the policies spelled out to enthusiastic applause at Labour’s conference in October—to make private-school fees subject to value-added tax (, at the standard rate of 20%, and to remove a discount these schools receive on business rates—are still controversial. Given the party’s yawning lead in the polls, they are also likely to become reality. As claims and counterclaims fly, three questions dominate. What is the case for making the tax changes? Would they materially affect private schools? And would they improve education in Britain?