Lord Weir of Ballyholme (DUP)[V]

Whatever the stated intentions of the Government are with this raft of measures, it is clear that the suspicion is that they are, at best, ideologically driven or, at worst, tribal in nature, with farmers, those sending their children to private education and even pensioners above the level of pension credit being seen as fair game. It is economically illiterate and, I believe, runs contrary to the Government’s aims. No better example of this can be given than the proposed imposition of VAT on private schools. The negative impact of the diversion of pupils is not simply supposition or scaremongering but has been proven by experience. About 15 years ago, the then Sinn Féin Education Minister imposed a similar measure on prep schools in Northern Ireland, with the end result that fees rose by about 20%. The impact on families was that schools became unaffordable; some schools became unsustainable. The unintended consequence was that instead of parents paying 70% of the cost of their children’s education, the state was left to pay 100%. Some 15 years on, the number of prep schools in Northern Ireland has decreased by one-third as a result of these changes and the number of pupils attending those prep schools has declined by 40%. In pure financial terms, for every pound that was saved by the state, £2.30 has had to be spent in additional educational expenditure. The real victims of this are not the very rich. They will survive all this raft of measures. The people who will really suffer are medium and small farmers, consumers, employees and many pensioners. I simply urge the Government to think again, look at the unintended consequences of this and, even at this eleventh hour, do a U-turn on this raft of deeply damaging proposals.