Taking Back Control Of Our Own Lives

The Labour party is promising to add VAT to school fees, in truth because they are anti private education (though they will of course not admit this). Whilst as Conservatives we should be against this proposal, it does raise an interesting question: if members of the public pay privately for services that the state promises to provide, but for one reason or the other fails to do, should they be at least in part compensated?

An example is social care. There are many elderly who want to remain in their own homes, having no desire to go into residential care. With the cost of live-in carers being between £800 and £1000 a week this is a very expensive option. Those that go down this route often get no assistance from the state; however, they are saving the state a considerable amount of money. Not only directly, but also saving on the requirement for management infrastructure to deal with their needs. Taking their care entirely into their own hands will almost certainly also mean fewer hospital admissions from falls and other problems. Being Conservative is meant to be about encouraging people to take responsibility, and therefore the cost incurred should at least in part be tax deductible.

Health is another area where the NHS is failing to provide the level of support required. Over and over again the money tree is shaken and more resources are pumped into the system, with little or no improvement in service. Many people are taking their health issues into their own hands, either by taking out private insurance or simply paying for the treatment required. In doing this they are also saving the taxpayer a considerable amount of money, as even the simplest of medical procedures is costly.

The British State, despite its inability to provide satisfactory healthcare via the NHS has frowned upon private healthcare, seeing it at best as a sector that can be called on in a crisis. However, again surely the Conservative way should be to encourage people to look after their own health? Why for example is being part of an employer’s health scheme regarded as a perk and therefore taxable? People who go private for their health are often described as queue jumpers, but in fact they are queue compressors as when their need drops out of the NHS queue everyone else after them is one step closer to treatment. As a Conservative, I believe that we should encourage people to take their health into their own hands and we should therefore make health insurance and treatment tax deductible. We should also encourage providers and insurers to create more private GP practices and private A & E clinics. Like many state-provided services, the NHS is not overall very good at delivering. Therefore, those who want to make their own arrangements should be encouraged to do so in order to allow it to concentrate on those who don’t want to or can’t.

Education has changed considerably in this country over the last thirty years, but successive governments continue, I believe, to enjoy being able to pull the educational leavers. This is a pretty unhealthy state of affairs. We have generations of children whose lives are marked by the whims and ideas of in some cases pretty mediocre ministers. The upbringing and education of children is probably the most important thing parents will do in their lives, and they only get one chance at it. If they don’t feel that the local state-funded school is right they have the option of using an independent school. Their child may be lucky and get a scholarship or bursary to cover some or all of the fees, but in most cases they will need to pay them. Yes, they are exercising their freedom of choice, but they are also saving the Treasury a considerable amount of money in it not having to fund places for their children. Nonetheless, they continue to pay taxes which in part go towards the education budget.

Labour’s iniquitous proposal to charge 20% VAT on school fees is they say to raise money to improve state education. They claim that private education is used by the rich who can afford to pay more and that they will not remove their children from private schools and place them into state ones. This is dishonest; most parents who educate their children privately are far from rich, and as a result this policy will be the straw that will break many parents’ budgets, leaving independent education the sole preserve of the most well off. I presume this is part of the plan as it will then be easier to abolish the sector altogether at a later date, but the new tax will therefore not raise any additional funds for the state sector. It will instead cost the state money as it will have to fund an influx of previously privately educated pupils. The policy will also destroy or at least seriously damage the independent education ecosystem built up over many generations, which will be extremely difficult to recreate at a later date.

As a Conservative, I believe that the state should concentrate on providing the legal framework and security to allow people to achieve their full potential. I believe that we should encourage people to take charge of their own lives and make their own decisions. Those parents who choose to pay for private education should see a reduction in their taxes equivalent to the average cost per pupil in the state sector. An alternative to this would be to make all schools independent of the state, and provide all parents with a voucher equivalent to the average cost of educating a pupil in the state sector – a voucher they could take to any school and put against the fees charged. This would remove the politician from the classroom and make schools far more responsive to parental & pupil needs and wishes. It would take the power of patronage away from politicians and put it with the parents, where it ought to be.

Instead of the pathetic silence from the Conservative party on Labour’s proposal, they should counter it by proposing to reward those who take their lives into their own hands. This would lead to far greater resilience in the population and reverse the trend of evermore infantilisation of the population by a bossy bureaucracy.

Alastair MacMillan runs White House Products Ltd, a manufacturer, distributor and exporter of hydraulic components to over 100 countries. He is a supporter of the Jobs Foundation.

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