On July 5th 2024, Labour took office with a mandate to apply Value Added Tax (VAT) at the standard rate of 20% on private school fees, and to revoke the charitable business rates relief currently enjoyed by England’s fee-paying schools . Since then, this policy has faced a more sustained and intense wave of opposition in the media than perhaps any other proposal in the party’s platform. Despite opinion polls indicating that the plan has garnered widespread public support, outlets like the Daily Mail continue to insist that a ‘class war’ is somehow being waged by the government.