Conservatives want more prosperity and happiness for the many. We believe that greater freedom, lower tax rates, and more enterprise is the best way to bring that about. We do not want an ever bigger state taxing too much, driving people into dependence, and forcing people to conform. In the second half of the...
As I listen to people on doorsteps and read the views that come into my website there is no passion for Keir Starmer or for Labour policies. Indeed, the voters who say to the pollsters they do not want to vote Conservative who did vote for us in 2019 often want us to be...
Some contributors seem to think the public sector cannot add to national output or incomes. This is not true in either accounting or real terms. A person attending a private school is paid for out of fees. Their education adds to national output. A person attending a state school has a similar education but...
Yesterday I visited Luckley House School, to the south of Wokingham. The Head and Bursar wanted to review the issues surrounding tax and money for a fee paying school. I reassured them that I support charitable status for schools, and do not propose placing VAT on school fees. Private sector schools face large rate...
I heard a passionate debate on Any Questions and Any Answers this week on the latest proposal from some private schools that they could provide free places to lower income pupils if the state paid them the average sum the state pays public sector schools for their places. Those against argued that the fee...
John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): There is a happy consensus well hidden in this debate. All parties in the House believe that education is of huge importance, and we all want the best possible education for every child in our country. We also accept that the state has the main obligation, because most children will...