Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill Report Stage: New Clause 1

Parliament voted on 15 January 2025 on a new clause (New Clause 1) tabled at Report Stage of the Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill. The clause, put forward by opposition MPs, would have required the government to complete a full impact assessment on state school capacity before implementing the bill's provisions removing business rates relief from private schools. The amendment was defeated by 342 votes to 175. The vote concerns a central element of the Labour government's education and tax policy: ending the business rates exemption that independent schools have historically enjoyed, alongside the separately legislated removal of their VAT exemption. In practical terms, the defeated clause would have put the private school tax changes on hold until ministers could demonstrate that state schools had sufficient capacity to absorb any pupils who left the independent sector as a result. By voting it down, the government cleared the way for the business rates changes to proceed without a formal prior assessment of that kind, meaning independent schools face higher costs and the policy's effects on pupil movement between sectors will play out without a pre-implementation review. The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs voted unanimously against the delay, providing the government's majority. Conservatives and Liberal Democrats voted together in favour of the amendment, joined by Reform UK, the Greens, and the DUP. Two independent MPs voted with the government, while five voted for the delay. The Bill continued to face opposition in the Lords, with subsequent divisions in March 2025 showing the government repeatedly disagreeing with Lords amendments attempting to modify the private schools provisions, underscoring the persistent cross-chamber contest over this legislation.