Labour leader Keir Starmer says he will tax private schools to pay for better state schools

Keir Starmer gave a speech at the Labour party conference in Liverpool on Tuesday

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer gave an important speech at his party's annual conference in Liverpool on Tuesday.

It's a get-together all parties have, where members listen to debates and speeches and present their ideas.

It was a big occasion for Mr Starmer to set out his plans about what his party would do if they were to win the next general election, expected to be in 2024.

However, things got off to an unexpected start after a protester approached Mr Starmer as he was about to start speaking, and threw glitter all over him.

In his speech, Mr Starmer spoke about building more houses, doing more to focus on climate change and he criticised the current government of Prime Minster Rishi Sunak.

One issue Sir Keir Starmer spoke about, which affects young people, was private schools - also known as independent schools - to which parents often pay money in fees to send their children.

The Labour leader says he wants to change the rules so that these schools pay more to the government in tax than they do now.

Mr Starmer said while people have criticised the plans, if his party pressed ahead and raised this money: "then we can have mental health staff in every school, more expert teachers in the classroom, more creativity, speaking skills, confidence."

Private schools have more say over how they run themselves compared to state schools

The Labour leader says he wants to raise extra money from charging private schools VAT, and to use that money to help provide additional cash for help state schools.

Previously Mr Starmer has argued his plans aren't an "attack" on private schools, but that improvements to state schools had to be paid for and this extra money would help.

"I'm very comfortable with private schools," he said, "but I want our state schools to be just as good, so it doesn't matter whether you send your child to private school or to state school because you'll get equal chances in life."

Opponents of his plans say it wouldn't work, as private schools would then charge parents even more in fees to pay for it, and that would make private schools too expensive for many families.

As a result, they argue, only children from very rich families would be able to go to private schools and more children would go to state schools instead, which would put more pressure on the state school system.

What has the Conservative party said about this issue?

Rishi Sunak has criticised the Labour leader's plans to scrap tax breaks for private schools

Conservative party leader Rishi Sunak criticised the Labour's plans to change these tax rules for private schools.

The prime minister has previously said the policy showed the Labour party "just don't understand the aspiration of families like my parents who were working really hard".

"They don't understand the aspiration that people have to provide a better life for their kids," he told BBC South Today.

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