Best Schools - Labour members call to 'redistribute' private schools' assets

Labour party members have voted to commit the party to integrate private schools into the state sector.

The motion calls for funds and properties held by private schools to be "redistributed democratically and fairly" to other schools.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said it would help build "a more cohesive and equal society".

But Boris Johnson called it a "pointless attack" on education, based on a "long-buried socialist ideology".

The vote by members signals a desire for the policy to be included in the next Labour Party general election manifesto.

Speaking at the party's conference in Brighton, shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said "tax loopholes" that benefit private schools would be scrapped by a Labour government in its first Budget.

That includes the withdrawal of charitable status, other public subsidies and tax privileges.

She said the money saved would "improve the lives of all children".

Universities would also have to admit the same proportion of private school students as in the wider population.

ISC response to the Labour Party vote to abolish independent schools

Julie Robinson, chief executive of the Independent Schools Council, responds to the vote at the Labour Party Conference today to abolish independent schools.

Julie Robinson, ISC chief executive, said: "Parents across the country have every right to be worried about the decision by Labour Party conference to support a motion to abolish independent schools. The move is an attack on the rights and freedoms of parents to make choices over the education of their children.

Read the full statement here: https://www.isc.co.uk/media-enquiries/news-press-releases-statements/labour-party-motion/