Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh has defended sending her children to private school despite backing the removal of the VAT exemption on fees for the independent sector. The Peckham MP stressed that the VAT move was the “right policy” for a Government as it struggles to balance the books.
Ms Fahnbulleh, who soared into the Cabinet just two years after becoming an MP, also said that sending children to private school does not preclude people from “being part of the Labour team or the Labour family”.
Controversy within Labour
Private schools remain a deeply controversial issue within the Labour Party, which has been accused by the Conservatives of “class war” by ending their exemption from VAT. Other Labour MPs including Diane Abbott have faced criticism for sending their children to schools in the independent sector.
Ms Fahnbulleh stressed that she had “purposefully not brought my kids into politics”. But after reports that she had sent her three children to private school, she told the Newsagents podcast: “If the question you're asking me is do I believe that parents should have a choice to send their kids to independent school? I do.”
She added: “Parents can do that for a whole host of reasons. Because it's a good school, because their kids have special educational needs, because they want schools that are geared towards sports or arts. That is OK. I don't think that precludes me or anyone else who holds that belief from being part of the Labour team or the Labour family.”
State education and VAT policy
Ms Fahnbulleh, whose husband is believed to be a City trader and hedge-fund founder, is the former chief executive of Left-leaning think tank the New Economics Foundation. On improving state schools, she emphasised: “The job for me is really clear. We've got to get to a system where our state education system is serving all of our children.”
But she described the debate around VAT exemption for private schools as “really bizarre”. She added: “Of course the Government is not going to cross subsidise parents sending their children to independent schools.”
Challenged over the fact that the tax move meant some parents were now unable to afford private school for their children, she responded: “Well, you don't know my personal circumstances. I know that the VAT exemption has been difficult for some parents. But I still believe that at a time when budgets are really tight it is the right thing for the state to decide that we're not going to cross-subsidise parents that do make that choice to send their children to independent schools and we're going to put that money into the state sector where the majority of kids go. That is the right policy. The job of the Government is to make the right decision in the public interests.”
Background and political rise
Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake accused Ms Fahnbulleh of “classic champagne socialism”. Ms Fahnbulleh, who studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford before a PhD in economics at the London School of Economics, succeeded Harriet Harman as MP for Peckham.
She was the first junior minister to resign from Sir Keir Starmer’s government as he battled to stay Prime Minister. She was appointed to Mr Burnham’s top team just two years and 16 days after winning her London seat at the 2024 general election, a faster rise into the Cabinet than other Labour high-flyers including Ed Miliband and Ed Balls.
Ms Fahnbulleh is of Liberian and Sierra Leonean descent. Her father too has a background in public policy and politics, having served as a minister in Samuel Doe’s government. The family fled Liberia after her father spoke out against Doe’s dictatorship, forcing the family to claim asylum in the UK. Since then, she has lived in Peckham.
