MP backs private schools' VAT rise

NORTH East-born Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson is encountering plenty of opposition to some of her reforms to the nation's schools - not least her decision to add 20% VAT to private school fees.

- By ROB PARSONS

A legal challenge against the move which will raise £1.5bn in 2025 to spend on state school education is expected this year from a group of parents who say it's discriminatory and a breach of human rights law.

It's a policy you might expect Labour MP Jonathan Brash - who before entering Parliament was a teacher at the independent Yarm School, and Newcastle School for Boys to have mixed feelings about.

But speaking on The Northern Agenda's Our Kids In The North podcast the recentlyelected Hartlepool MP says the change is "absolutely a good thing" and something he actually argued for while working in private schools.