Hundreds of Labour councillors campaign to end private schools in UK ‘Unless we break up the old boys’ network that hoards power and privilege, educational inequality will continue’

Hundreds of councillors have backed a campaign to abolish all 2,500 private schools across the UK in a bid to bridge the inequality gap.

More than 250 Labour councillors have signed a letter published in The Sunday Times describing the “class segregation of schools” as “a burning injustice that must end”.

The move follows an email sent to over 700 councillors by the Independent Schools Council (ISC) warning that the influx of 580,000 private school students into the state school system would result in an “unbearable burden” on council budgets.

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This claim is refuted by the signatories, who state that such claims are “grossly inflated”.

Dismantling the old boys’ network

Private school staff would be transferred to the state sector, the assets of private schools would be managed by local authorities and the charitable endowments of public schools would provide additional resources, they argue.

“Unless we break up the old boys’ network that hoards power and privilege, educational inequality will continue”, it reads.

“We support Labour Against Private Schools because we believe a Labour government will build a system that nurtures the talents of all our children.”

The grassroots campaign behind the letter is Labour Against Private Schools.

Launched in June, the collective is calling for Labour to commit to integrating all private schools into the state sector in its next general election manifesto.

‘Unfair’

A third of all British Prime Ministers were educated at Eton. Boris Johnson will be number 20. The class segregation and hoarding of power + privilege by elite private schools must end. Pass the motion in your CLP: https://t.co/1ydaxZF8hi It's time for Labour to #AbolishEton pic.twitter.com/rSuRt9fJR8 — Labour Against Private Schools (@AbolishEton) July 9, 2019

Information published on the groups website cites figures published by the social mobility foundation The Sutton Trust which states that seven per cent of UK students attend private schools.

Yet 65 per cent of senior judges, 52 per cent of junior ministers, 44 per cent of news columnists and 16 per cent of university vice-chancellors were educated in private schools.

Read more: Expecting private education to get you to Oxbridge is the ultimate in class privilege

A spokesperson for the group told Metro: “The current leadership election looks more and more like an Eton versus Charterhouse varsity match, and let’s not forget that ‘man of the people’ Nigel Farage, who rails against the ‘metropolitan elite’, was himself educated at a posh private school in South London.

“What does that say about the state of our democracy?”

The letter comes days before Boris Johnson – another ex-Etonian – is expected to enter Downing Street as prime minister, making him the twentieth UK prime minister to attend the elite public school whose annual fees are almost £40,000.