How private schools could become an option for the many not the few

Rachel Reeves's decision to impose VAT on school fees from January is set to prove as calamitous as its opponents feared.

Small schools will close, children will be uprooted from their friends mid-year, and exactly the situation that Labour supposedly objects to – that public schools are largely the preserve of the rich – will gradually become true.

If there is any good to come out of this nasty, vindictive strike against aspirational parents, it is that Conservative politicians are finally vocally standing up for independent schools.

Over the last two decades, the Tory politician who would unashamedly celebrate the value of private education has been a rare beast indeed. This is partly – perhaps even largely – explained by Tory leaders David Cameron and Boris Johnson overcompensating for their Eton schooldays.

The overwhelming majority of the 620,000 children attending over 2,500 independent schools are at establishments which have very little in common with the Windsor-facing institution. But the shadow it cast had its deleterious effect on Tory education policy.

Increases by the last Conservative government to employer contributions to the pay-as-you-go Teachers' Pension Scheme – the vast majority of the larger, more established independent schools have been part of it – hit private schools hard, while the state sector was compensated.

This hidden Tory imposition was in fact almost as significant as Labour's VAT raid. Employment costs rose by over 12pc, leading to consequential fee hikes. Reeves's exact VAT ruse was floated by Tory eminence grise Michael Gove in a rival newspaper in 2017, when he was briefly relegated to the backbenches.

But now the Conservatives are loud and proud in their support of parental choice, they could do better at the next election than simply saying they will reverse Labour's vengeful levy.

They could reclaim an idea extolled by Milton Friedman and favoured by Margaret Thatcher, but shelved for being too radical – the education voucher. And they may even find the policy remarkably popular.

In England this year, the spending per child at a state school stands at £7,690 – it is slightly higher in Wales, and is more than £8,500 in Scotland. What if parents could choose to take this money and spend it with any provider of their choice?

It will clearly not come close to covering the fees of most independent schools – fees at London secondary day schools are around £8,000 per term and above, £24,000 per year plus. But it would mean many more parents could consider the option. The middle classes would get something back for their taxes.

Some past advocates of vouchers have squeamishly suggested that they should not be topped up, but this rather defeats their purpose. Some vouchers will of course go to those who do not need them, but so what?

They are paying enough as it is. Tories should be concerned about the aspirational whose opportunities have thus been expanded.

The policy would have one other major attraction. Critics of Britain's public school scene argue with some justification that this market has become rather ossified and that many providers are inefficient.

Traditionally independent schools have either operated as self-perpetuating charitable trusts, true of all the renowned public schools, or as owner-operated ventures, true for many prep schools. Great results have ensued, but these are not always the most dynamic of structures.

In more recent years, corporate entities have started entering the private school scene. Most are still operating at the traditional, high-cost model. But the introduction of education vouchers would surely result in many more such entrants into the market.

Low-cost providers would directly compete with the state in offering education at the cover price of the voucher or with a modest supplement of a few thousand pounds.

Independent education could really become an option for the many, not the few. If Kemi Badenoch was the Tory prime minister to achieve this, she would have instantly ensured that she would have a legacy to be proud of and generations of parents would be grateful for.