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WATCH: Bridget Phillipson refuses to confirm Labour stance on burka ban
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Jun 5, 2025
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson dodged a grilling on Labour's stance on the burka ban, following calls by Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin.Speaking to GB News, Phillipson declared "women can make their own choices as to what they want to wear", but refused to disclosed Labour's position on a ban.FULL STORY HERE.
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Can I talk to you about VAT on private school fees? Obviously something that you have been
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in favour of, something that you've pushed for. You will have seen these independent school
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council figures. They are saying that 13,000 pupils have left private schools in the past
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12 months. Now, the government had predicted around 3,000 pupils would leave. So we're
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dealing with an extra 10,000 more than the government had predicted. So in terms of a
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revenue raiser, this must be a huge concern to you because you're risking raising absolutely
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nothing or not very much and then disrupting a child's education, pulling them out of the
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school that they were in with their friends and also adding more pressure to the state
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school system. So just firstly in terms of the figure, I think we're potentially in terms
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of those numbers comparing two different periods of time. But the wider point is that we as
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government have made the decision to prioritise investing in state schools. That's where the majority of our children go to school. It's where the majority of your viewers will be
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sending their children to school. And what they want is more investment in our schools, more teachers, measures like the one I'm setting out today around expanding access to free school
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meals. That's the difference that a Labour government is bringing. It's not something you'd be seeing from conservative or reform politicians. But we have made some choices
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And one of the choices that we're making is to support families, to support schools
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and I'm afraid I simply don't accept the scaremongering that we've seen from the private schools lobby
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They've made their case, they're entitled to make it but we did set out this policy position a very, very long time ago
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We've been clear about why we're doing it and that's to invest more money in our state schools
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So what support have you given to state schools then to cope with the influx of 13,000 private school pupils
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Firstly I don accept the wider premise of all of this but there is also a change in terms of the birth rate So we going to have fewer children and young people coming through state schools anyway because of the fall in the birth rate
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I'm confident the schools are able to manage this process, but I don't simply accept some of the framing around this
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And it is a question, however, of priorities. Do we prioritise tax breaks for private schools
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or do we prioritise investing in state education? And I choose the latter. So when you talk about the birth rate
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are you mentioning the fact that the birth rate, of course, is plunging? You're banking on the fact that British people, at least
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aren't just having children anymore, and you're factoring that into your plans. Is that what you just said
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It is. So we've got falling rules in our schools. So we've got fewer children moving from primary into secondary
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That's been happening for some time. And that means that, yeah, we do have a situation
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where there are falling rules in our schools in terms of the number of places that are required
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Should the government not be doing more to try and promote the birth rate? You look to places such as Hungary, where women are being given massive tax breaks to have more children and start families
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It seems like we're pretty lacklustre in this country. And it's it's not just a side talking point
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It's I mean, if you listen to people such as Elon Musk or whoever, they'll say it's an existential threat to humanity
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So I want I want people to make choices about what's right for them in terms of, you know, family shape and structure
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I do hear from quite a lot of people that they are making choices about family size
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because housing costs are high or they're concerned about job security. And we are taking measures to support families
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for example, around the expansion of childcare, to provide more help for families
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So that will make a big difference. And what I'm setting out today around free school meals will do that too
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But I want people to make the decision that's right for them, not to be driven by economic circumstance
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And I do hear from people that sometimes they've made that decision because it's just too hard
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