Does Labour proposal to abolish private education pose a threat to Charedi schools?

While there are a few state-aided Strictly Orthodox schools, most catering for the Charedi community in London, Manchester and Gateshead are independent.

Even if Labour were willing to exempt these kind of faith schools, it would be tricky to draw up legislation that makes the distinction. And the party could face a political backlash that it would be privileging religion.

While at the end of the day a Labour government may not so go far as to abolish private schools altogether, it is likely — as Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner indicated this week — to  remove some of the tax breaks they enjoy by removing their charitable status and imposing VAT on school fees.

That could make many schools unviable.

It might be possible to protect independent faith schools by denying charitable status only to schools which select pupils on ability. Alternatively, private schools could preserve their tax breaks if they do not charge fees at all but are funded entirely by donations.