Sir Keir Starmer has said he wants private schools to 'thrive' - despite pledging to scrap their tax breaks.
The Labour leader insisted he had no 'ideological' objection to the independent education sector, but thought they should pay VAT.
At present, private schools can claim they have charity status, meaning they do not have to add the 20 per cent tax to their fees.
Speaking to Jewish News yesterday, Sir Keir said: 'We have got fantastic independent schools. I want them to thrive.'
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said she wants to end the tax break for private education providers to raise £1.5billion a year to spend on 6,500 new state school teachers.
However, independent schools have warned that schools would have to increase fees, risking the closure of some and thousands of children returning to the state sector.
Backing Ms Phillipson's policy, Sir Keir said: 'Ending the tax break is not aimed at independent schools on any ideological grounds.
'It's simply trying to answer the question of, if, in your state schools, you don't have teachers in basic subjects like maths then are you going to do anything about it?
