Ed Miliband joins a string of Labour figures backing ‘class war’ campaign to abolish private schools
- Former Labour leader backing Labour Against Private Schools, which is using Twitter handle @AbolishEton
- Group launched this week and aims to remove private schools’ privileges and integrate them into state system
- Also backed by shadow minister Laura Pidcock and MPs including Clive Lewis and Rachel Reeves
Former Labour leader Ed Miliband is among MPs throwing their support behind a new drive to outlaw private schools.
Mr Miliband is backing the Labour Against Private Schools campaign, which is using the Twitter handle @AbolishEton.
The group, which was launched this week, is pushing the party to commit to removing fee-charging schools’ privileges and to integrate them into the state system.
Former Labour leader Ed Miliband is among MPs throwing their support behind a new drive to outlaw private schools
It is trying to win support for policies including ensuring universities admit the same proportion of private school students as there are in the wider population – seven per cent – and the withdrawal of charitable status and tax breaks from private schools.
Campaigners want money raised from VAT on private school fees to be used to pay for free school meals.
Laura Pidcock, Shadow Minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, has also backed the campaign, which has been described as ‘class war’ by the group’s coordinator Holly Rigby, who teaches at an inner London state school.
Mr Miliband is backing the Labour Against Private Schools campaign, which is using the Twitter handle @AbolishEton. The group, which was launched this week, is pushing the party to commit to removing fee-charging schools’ privileges and to integrate them into the state system
The group, which was launched this week, is pushing the party to commit to removing fee-charging schools’ privileges and to integrate them into the state system
Other Labour MP supporters include Clive Lewis; Kate Green; Lloyd Russell-Moyle; Rachel Reeves; Thelma Walker; and Laura Smith.
Mr Miliband said earlier this week that the debate about private schools had been ‘taboo for too long’, adding that their ‘domination of the upper echelons of our society’ has ‘huge implications for unequal opportunity, social mobility and inequality’.
Ms Rigby, who teaches English, told the Times Educational Supplement she felt ‘pretty confident’ the demands will be debated on the floor of Labour’s conference in September.
The campaign’s coordinator Holly Rigby teaches English at an inner London state school, told the Times Educational Supplement she felt ‘pretty confident’ the demands will be debated on the floor of Labour’s conference in September. Above: Ms Rigby on the BBC’s Politics Live programme yesterday
A motion can be debated at the conference if it is endorsed by just one constituency Labour Party (CLP), but Miss Rigby said it is ‘more likely’ to get debated if it receives the backing of multiple CLPs.
If passed, it would remain Labour’s position until a general election.
Asked about her campaign by the TES, Ms Rigby, who was educated at a maintained primary school and then a grammar, said: ‘I would say it is class war.’
Laura Pidcock, Shadow Minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, has also backed the campaign. Fellow Labour MP Clive Lewis (right) has also added his name
She added that a ‘privately educated elite’ continues to dominate society and had ‘enforced austerity’ on the country, including funding cuts that have left schools ‘basically on their knees’.
But Mike Buchanan, executive director of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, which represents leading private schools, said his sector created ‘free places for children from disadvantaged backgrounds’.
He said: ‘I would invite politicians of any party to talk to me about how we can do even more together to extend such opportunities.’