Forum Topic

Private schools vote for legal action over VAT plans

A group representing 1,400 private schools will press ahead with plans for a legal challenge against the government’s introduction of VAT from January, the BBC can reveal.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c98d3xr0290oDelighted to hear this!!

Ivonne Holliday ● 56d15 Comments

We have to vote for the same two parties who do not want reform incase we vote differently and are let down is not a credible answer.You are giving the main parties a mandate not to change.(I'm not sure LidDems count as a separate party under Clegg)ECHR is meant to be a safety net. Not something that a modern democracy should rely on for basic rights.It is a bit strange that ECHR is only mentioned when convenient.It's mentioned with regards refugees arriving at the UK for instance but refugees not in the UK can be blown to bits.The ECHR didn't even protect those that have drowned in the channel.Is the ECHR a good thing? Of course it is it's for third class democracies like the UK. The real question is why do people want us to remain a third class democracy?

Ed Robinson ● 54d

Ed, the ECHR is not the EU. I seem to recall you're own posts are critical of the UK and it's lack of a written constitution. Without proportional representation there are dangers in voting for minority parties, and, as the Lib Dems proved in the coalition they don't always meet expectations. 

Michael Ixer ● 55d

You both seem to believe that the UK can not govern itself - whilst at the same time supporting political parties that do not want reform.The EU shouldn't be viewed as a means for the UK not to put its own house in order.It's precisely why Brexit was lost. UK politicians didn't take responsibility for their decisions and blamed the EU. .It would not have hurt either for the UK hto have had a few referendums along the way - which is what other democracies do.

Ed Robinson ● 55d

But, seemingly, not the right to have tax free education or avoid having the planet cooked (although we may be too late for that one).

Michael Ixer ● 55d

Many of the rights enshrined in the Convention have existed in this country for centuries. Indeed the Convention was actually drafted by a British lawyer.

Steven Rose ● 55d

Exactly as has happened with the watering down of environmental protections

Michael Brigo ● 55d

Is a teacake a cake or a biscuit?Well that took 13 years at various courts before it was settled.I wonder how long all the various cases against this tax will take.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7870265.stm

Ed Robinson ● 55d

The UK is the only country in the world to impose a sales tax on education.Imposed by a Chancellor educated at a Harris Academy, a secondary school outside of the state system and sponsored by the owner of Carpetright.She then read PPE at Oxford, starting I believe before Labour introduced tuition fees.But of course this tax will only hit the filthy rich and will pay for an extra 8,500 teachers to add to the current complement of 453,813.

John Hawkes ● 55d

The only problem with leaving the ECHR and transferring it to UK law without a written constitution there's no guarantee a future government won't water down the rights on or even abolish a UK bill of rights act.

Michael Ixer ● 55d

The objection to the European Convention of Human Rights is not to its provisions as such but to the extreme interpretation placed on them  by judicial activists among the judges of the European Court of Human Rights who have extended them beyond the intentions of the the original signatories to the Convention. So for example the ECtHR used the right to family life under the Convention to uphold a complaint against Switzerland by three Swiss women for failing to introduce a net zero policy quickly enough. And recently a Zimbabwean who had caused the death of a man and seriously injured another while driving under the influence of alcohol and cannabis was allowed to stay in this country following his five year jail sentence because he had fathered a child in the UK. An immigration tribunal ruled that deporting him would breach the right to family life under the Convention (as currently interpreted by the ECtHR). Those like Robert Jenrick who wish to leave the Convention don’t want to abolish these rights. They wish to subsume them under British law but to interpret them in such a way as to allow the UK to deport foreign criminals and remove illegal migrants.

Steven Rose ● 55d

So suddenly the ECHR gains some favour when you want to take advantage of it...  interesting.

Philippa Bond ● 55d

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/education/schools-like-eton-have-found-a-way-to-cash-in-on-new-vat-rules-and-it-could-cost-the-taxpayer-millions-384108/

Adam Tripp ● 55d

The European Convention on Human Rights specifically safeguards the right of parents to have their children outside of the state system. The imposition of VAT on private schools clearly discriminates against  parents of modest means, especially if their children have special needs which cannot properly be met in the state system. I hope and believe that the legal challenge will succeed.

Steven Rose ● 56d

Yes Ivonne great news! 'ISC to sue government over VAT on feesThe ISC is working with human rights barrister Lord Pannick KC and 'legal proceedings will begin shortly.The Independent Schools Council is to launch legal action against the Government’s decision to levy VAT on independent school fees, the group announced today.The case will centre around breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Human Rights Act 1998. It will be separate from other litigation, though ISC will be liaising with these other third-party groups, it said.Julie Robinson, CEO of ISC, said: “This is a decision that has not been taken lightly and has been under consideration for many months. At all points throughout this debate, our focus has been on the children in our schools who would be negatively impacted by this policy. “This focus remains and we will be defending the rights of families who have chosen independent education, but who may no longer be able to do so as a direct result of an unprecedented education tax.”https://www.schoolmanagementplus.com/government-policy/isc-to-sue-government-over-vat-on-feesThe fightback has started.👍

Sue Hammond ● 56d

"Delighted to hear this!!"I'm not.So many grey areas in the Government's policy when they have had years to come up with a coherent plan.University fees may come under this legislation unintentionally some legal opinions have claimed.As might a number of holiday school organisations / charities that run paid classes during the school holidays.Laws are already bent enabling 17 year olds to take out doddy loans from the UK Government.The devil is in the detail of the bill.Apparently the EU has some issues too regarding international schools.Fundamentally taxing education is just wrong as a principle!

Ed Robinson ● 56d