Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has accused the government of “herding” children into temporary classrooms as “school roofs crumble” at the Labour Party conference.
Her comments - highlighting the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) crisis in schools - were made as she defended Labour’s plan to change the tax status of independent schools after prime minister Rishi Sunak criticised them last month.
Mr Sunak said that Labour’s plan showed the party “doesn’t understand the aspiration of families like my parents”.
Ms Reeves said that Labour would welcome a “fight” over which party has more aspiration for children.
In her speech to the Labour Party conference today, Ms Reeves told delegates: “In my first budget as chancellor of the exchequer, I will end the tax loophole which exempts private schools from paying VAT and business rates.”
Ms Reeves echoed party leader Sir Keir Starmer’s commitment to put the money gained from ending tax relief on private schools back into the state school sector.
“If Rishi Sunak wants a fight on this, if the party that has herded our children into portacabins as school roofs crumble wants a fight about who has the most aspiration for our children, I say bring it on,” Ms Reeves told the hall.
The government has faced criticism for its handling of the RAAC crisis in schools after a late change in guidance just days before the start of the new academic year resulted in more than 100 schools being told to close buildings where RAAC was confirmed to be in place.
Teacher recruitment and retention has also been discussed at Labour’s conference today.
Speaking at a fringe event, shadow schools minister Catherine McKinnell spoke about the party’s mission to “break down barriers to opportunity”.
She described the teacher recruitment and retention issues that the country is facing as “a big challenge to that”.
And Ms McKinnell said that it was “horrifying” that more teachers were leaving the profession than joining it and that Labour wants to “reset the relationship with the sector”.
The Labour Party has said that it plans to recruit an extra 6,500 teachers into the profession if elected.
