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Students carrying bags and books
MPs HAVE voted to back the government’s plan to end the VAT exemption on private school fees in the face of opposition from the Tories, Liberal Democrats and, less predictably, most of the new Independent Alliance of MPs.
The vote, on a Tory motion to block the change, was 363 to 190. Ministers have advanced the policy, one of the few held over from Jeremy Corbyn-era Labour, to raise funds to hire more teachers for state schools.
One of the Independent Alliance MPs, Iqbal Mohamed, argued that the increase would hit the six independent schools in his Dewsbury constituency, where there is already significant pressure on the state school system.
MAT COWARD tells the story of the eccentric founder of a short-lived but striking experiment in ‘vital democracy,’ who became best known for giving away his estate to the nation
A ‘new phase’ for Starmerism is fairly similar to the old phase – only worse. ANDREW MURRAY takes a look
In the run-up to the Communist Party congress in November ROB GRIFFITHS outlines a few ideas regarding its participation in the elections of May 2026