Just colour them green - Reeves and Phillipson are all envy

Labour's attack on private schools is misguided and damaging

- Anna van Praagh

It's hard to pinpoint the most egregious side effects of Rachel Reeves's Budget so far, with its blizzard of bizarre policies fraught with unpleasant, unintended consequences. Who do they most want to hurt? Business owners, farmers and parents who have the cheek to want the best education for their children are, naturally, first in line for a thrashing.

Some of Britain's biggest employers in supermarkets and hospitality are claiming the budget will lose them billions which they warn will end up in food inflation and job cuts, and, according to a letter sent to Reeves from major names in the hospitality industry, "some jobs on the minimum wage will become unviable".

If there was an impact analysis done before the Budget, Labour aren't keen to share it.

Their other flagship policy, imposing VAT on private school education, is causing mayhem for parents up and down the country. It's the politics of envy fare, executed with spiteful precision. Imposing the sharp rise in fees in January, in the middle of the school year, means many children are having to leave their schools part way through their GCSEs and A-levels.

Social media is aflame with parents describing how none of their local schools have places for their children. Not to mention the 100,000 children with special education needs in the private sector without an Education Health and Care Plan who will be negatively affected and whose schooling, if they re-enter the state sector, will cost millions.