Labour conference: Tax private schools to help poorer children, says Starmer

Sir Keir Starmer has promised children in England an "education fit for the future" paid for by a tax raid on private schools, if he wins power.

The Labour leader told the Sunday Mirror he wants to ensure all pupils leave school "ready for work and ready for life".

He was speaking at the Labour's party conference in Brighton.

The first day was dominated by a row over changing the way the party selects leaders and MPs.

Party members will vote on Sunday on a watered-down package of measures after Sir Keir's plan to scrap one-member-one vote leadership elections were rejected by the party's left wing.

In his Sunday Mirror interview, Sir Keir says schools should teach practical life skills such as pension planning and applying for a mortgage.

He also wants a £250m scheme to prevent young people leaving school without qualifications - and has plans for better careers advice and compulsory work placements with local employers.

Every primary and secondary child should also have access to weekly extracurricular activities and after school clubs, Sir Keir said.

To pay for this Labour would end the charitable status of England's private schools, as well as the VAT and business rate exemptions they currently benefit from - policies that were in the party's 2019 general election manifesto.

Labour says the tax increases will raise £1.7bn.

Sir Keir told the newspaper: "Labour wants every parent to be able to send their child to a great state school. But improving them to benefit everyone costs money.

"That's why we can't justify continued charitable status for private schools."

The party is also focusing on the environment on Sunday, with shadow business and energy secretary Ed Miliband pledging a 10-year investment to "green" the UK's steel industry.

In his conference speech, he will set out plans to support manufacturing firms to decarbonise, as part of a Green New Deal.

Labour would invest up to £3bn over the coming decade to green the steel industry, working with steelmakers, he will say.

He will accuse the Conservatives failing to protect steelmakers from being undercut by cheap steel imports as well as spending tens of millions on imported steel to build schools and hospitals.

Mr Miliband will also describe the current gas prices crisis as a "disaster made in Downing Street" because of "inaction" from the government.

He is expected to say: "As we respond to the climate crisis with all the transformation that entails, we have a fateful choice to make.

"We can try and put a green coat of paint on an unfair, unequal, unjust Britain, or we can make a different choice."