“I’ve always felt that private schools have an absolute right to exist and I think they play a role….we need to get a lot more money into the state system” Ed Davey explains why he doesn’t support Labour’s plans to remove the VAT exemption on private school fees. #Peston

@EdwardJDavey No matter how nice and jolly he appears I will never forgive the Lib Dems for forming a coalition with the Tories and then going back on their ( at the time) manifesto promise to abolish university tuition fees.

@EdwardJDavey I think @EdwardJDavey came across really well. Kind, compassionate and realistic. And his point about not agreeing to VAT on education makes sense. Should universities be subject to VAT or private tuition?

@Peston @EdwardJDavey Just moved into his constituency. It’s a no from me. No one is saying private schools can’t exist. But when I want a luxury item I pay VAT on it.

@EdwardJDavey Nothing wrong with private schools for those wishing to use them, but why are they not taxed?

@EdwardJDavey LibDems understand it will cost more money than it raises. Basic economics. That’s why they’d make a good opposition and it’s why they can replace the One Nation Tory party

@EdwardJDavey You’re missing the point. VAT is a consumption tax,designed to tax the consumer. Schools=merely tax collector. So this is not a pro-growth, pro-consumption policy. It’s Labour’s first tax hike on an easy target. Tax on education. What next? Children’s clothes and milk powder?

@EdwardJDavey Hard to see on an impartial level quite how charging VAT on private schools when they’ve increased their fees by over 50% in 18 years provides an existential threat to them.

@Peston @EdwardJDavey Parents who say they can’t afford to pay VAT on school fees should take some tips from @KirstyAlsop on how to save money. She says cut back on take away coffee, advocado and such like.

@briteeth @EdwardJDavey Just why should schools for the super-rich have a right not only to exist, but to a hefty state subsidy in VAT exemption? How does it make any sense.