Labour's plan to tax private schools shouldn't be feared

As the largely state-educated new cabinet gets off to a flying start, former comp kid’ Polly Dunbar explains why prejudice against those who went to schools like hers is never justified

- Polly Dunbar

As the nation adjusts to its new Labour government, my phone has been pinging all week with non-stop messages. The subject my friends want to discuss? The educational background of those who make up Keir Starmer’s new cabinet – and the glorious fact that it’s the same as ours. For the first time ever, the experience of those who are running the country reflects that of most people who live here.

Let me recap. Twenty-three ministers – 92 per cent of the cabinet – went to comprehensive schools. In fact, Parrs Wood High School in Didsbury, south Manchester, boasts two alumnae in the new cabinet – two more than Eton. Only one cabinet member went to a private school, while Starmer himself went to a grammar school; by contrast, two-thirds of Rishi Sunak’s cabinet went to private school. Since 2010, that figure has stood at an average of around 60 per cent, despite only 7 per cent of the country being educated privately.

Watching Rachel Reeves, Wes Streeting, Angela Rayner et al get off to an impressive start has put an undeniable spring in the step of people like me, who spent seven years at the local comp. “The more I see of them, the more hopeful I feel,” read one WhatsApp from a usually cynical member of my circle.

We’ve been so used to being governed by former private school pupils that the joy of seeing people like us take over has caught us off guard. But that joy is real, because where the leaders of the country went to school matters in a very real way. The hope is that this cabinet will have a deeper understanding of the issues facing the people they represent, and, more importantly, amid all the hand-wringing about Labour’s imposition of VAT on private schools, serve as a reminder that a state education is not something to be feared.