New polling from Ipsos shows that the majority of the public (57%) support the Labour party’s proposal to end the VAT exemption offered to private schools if they win the next election. Just under one in five (18%) oppose the policy.

The policy has greater support among 2019 Labour voters, where four in five (78%) are in favour of it. However, even among 2019 Conservative voters, nearly half (47%) support it, compared to a third (32%) who oppose it.

Ipsos director of politics Keiran Pedley said: “The majority of the public back Labour’s proposal to end private schools’ VAT exemption, including nearly half of 2019 Conservative voters. They are most convinced by arguments around fairness and that private schools should not have been exempt from VAT in the first place, although there is still concern that more funding will be needed to improve Britain’s state schools.”

Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 2,036 adults aged 18 to 75 online from 13-18 October.