Private school no longer a golden ticket to 'elite society' says Tom Swarbrick

12 July 2022, 13:03

Attending private school no longer offers the "historic benefit" it used to, and can even disadvantage those applying for Oxbridge, according to Tom Swarbrick.

Attending private school no longer offers the "historic benefit" it used to, and can even disadvantage those applying for Oxbridge, according to Tom Swarbrick.

It came after Keir Starmer said his party will axe charitable status for private schools if elected, ending their VAT exemption.

Tom, who explained he attended a fee paying school with "three quarters off the fee" because his father taught there, argued the position of private schools in British society is changing.

He said: "What I think has changed is I'm not sure the benefit that has been historically conferred on those that went to private school - that if you go to a certain school you are likelier to go to a certain university, therefore more likely to get a better job, you enter into an elite society. I wonder whether that is changing.

"That historical benefit of 'well of course he went to St Julians, of course they will be favourable looked upon by Oxbridge', that doesn't exist anymore.

"In fact it's going the other way and probably not before time."

Tom asked whether some parents will no longer be able to afford public school if their charity status is ended, arguing schools are already increasingly targeting wealthy foreign students.

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'We're helping the state by sending our kids to private school!'

Addressing Labour's policy he commented: "For those people who struggle, scrimp and save to put their children through private school this is going to come as an enormous blow to you because you will end up having to pay 20% more.

"I wonder if there will be those people on that threshold that end up having to fall away because they can't afford it anymore.

"You make private schools, as they are becoming anyway, the preserve of the incredibly wealthy.

"A lot of these big schools, particularly the big schools, covert students from Asia, in part from Russia, because they are the ones who can afford the enormous fees that go alongside the boarding part of it."

Tom added he's not able to send his own children to private schools and questioned whether this is a good thing.

"I look at the situation for my own kids and no, we're not in a position to be able to send them to private school, part of me thinks is that a bad thing?

"That I can't give to my children what I was given by being able to go to one of these schools.

"I thought the deal was if you worked hard and tried your best and did things right you would end up a step up from where your parents were - for a lot of people my age, starting out on a family mid-30s, that is basically impossible."

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