Saqib Bhatti MP is Shadow Education Minister.
It is now widely accepted that the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, when she came to office, imposed an ideologically driven tax on independent schools. For the first time we have an Education Secretary more bothered about waging a spiteful culture war than focussing on the wellbeing of all our children or standards within the broader system.
The publicly stated aim of delivering more teachers is now just a slogan that Labour politicians deliver while even the Department for Education website shows that Labour have 1,900 fewer teachers since they took office. Even Keir Starmer forgot what the tax was meant to pay for and instead at one point tweeted that it would allow for more housing!
The impact of education tax is impossible to overestimate with thousands of pupils being forced out of their schools and dozens of schools forced to close halfway through the year. However, the sudden collapse of some of the United Kingdom’s most historic independent schools has also exposed a dangerous vulnerability at the heart of our education sector namely the potential for foreign influence in our independent sector.
Within a single week, Ruthin School, a 742-year-old cornerstone of Welsh education, and Durham High School, a 142-year-old pioneer for girls’ education, announced their imminent closures. Coming on the heels of similar turmoil at Malvern St James in Worcestershire, which is set to close later this year, these aren’t isolated cases. All three institutions are linked to a single corporate group, Galaxy Global Education, whose ultimate ownership is linked with China. The abrupt nature of these closures, coming just as summer terms concluded and leaving families with mere weeks to secure new schools for September, should set alarm bells ringing across government.
What Bridget Phillipson has failed to grasp, or wilfully ignored, is that our education sector is the envy of the world. The independent sector is a key part of our soft power and has long been desired by investors, both domestic and foreign. Upon deeper review it seems a number of our independent schools have come under the ownership of Chinese business groups in recent years.
Our schools are famous around the world for their academic rigour and the excellent values they instil into the future leaders of tomorrow. China, in particular, has shown a strong interest in acquiring British independent schools. Unofficial estimates based on publicly available ownership filings indicate around thirty independent schools are now owned by businesses with links to China. Chinese businesses are not independent of the Chinese state so such ownership raises legitimate questions for British legislators about how much operational independence these schools retain from state influence.
The danger here mirrors the crisis that has already compromised our higher education sector. In 2023, Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee issued a stark warning: UK academic institutions provide a “rich feeding ground” for Beijing to achieve political and economic advantage. Our universities have become structurally dependent on Chinese funding, giving a foreign state leverage — through visa restrictions and financial pipelines — if an institution acts against its interests.
By allowing corporate networks with links to China to acquire independent schools, we risk permitting that same dependency to take hold in the school sector too. It raises the possibility that some of our most historic independent schools could become vulnerable to external influence over curriculum content or the suppression of discussion on China’s human rights. This is a risk that should be assessed and guarded against, whatever the current facts of any individual case.
It is a fact that China is asserting itself around the world, including here in the UK. We should not sit by while questions like these go unanswered. If we get this wrong, our national security could be at stake. Education is not a standard commercial asset. It is critical infrastructure of national character, public service, and intellectual development. It is why it is so attractive as an investment.
Alongside the ideological concerns, there is a broader social and economic issue too. The abrupt closure of these three schools has left hundreds of pupils displaced, disrupted teaching careers, and dealt a blow to the local businesses that rely on them.
These closures also threaten to trigger a domino effect across the wider educational landscape. The state sector will now have to cater for these displaced pupils, placing a sudden burden on local authorities who are already struggling.
We can no longer afford to ignore this. I have questioned the government about what they know of the scale of Chinese-linked ownership in our schools, and the lack of data available is a worrying indicator of how this issue has crept up on the Education department.
The lack of transparent data regarding the true extent of foreign ownership in our school system needs to be addressed. The Department for Education, working alongside the Home Office, must urgently establish the true reach of Chinese-linked businesses in our schools. This goes above politics. It is about the security of our children and nation, and the integrity of the British education sector.
Simultaneously, the government must demand rigorous enforcement of the Independent School Standards. No matter who funds a school, the curriculum must remain fair, balanced, and explicitly aligned with fundamental British values. Any attempt by any owner, foreign or domestic, to suppress free speech must be met with the full force of the law.
Finally, an urgent and transparent review should be launched into the circumstances surrounding these closures. What is not yet clear is whether Galaxy Global Education always intended to close these schools or what, if any, influence the Chinese government has over the group’s activities, or whether the closures simply reflect financial or operational difficulties. Those are precisely the questions an independent review needs to answer so we can understand exactly why these schools were driven into closure. Furthermore, we need to understand what safeguards, regulatory, financial, or otherwise are needed to protect pupils and staff at any other schools that may find themselves in a similar position.
Our independent schools are the cornerstone of an internationally respected schooling system. If we continue to treat our educational heritage as expendable, then we risk losing more than just historic buildings. We risk losing sovereignty over how our children are educated.
Saqib Bhatti MP is Shadow Education Minister.
It is now widely accepted that the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, when she came to office, imposed an ideologically driven tax on independent schools. For the first time we have an Education Secretary more bothered about waging a spiteful culture war than focussing on the wellbeing of all our children or standards within the broader system.
The publicly stated aim of delivering more teachers is now just a slogan that Labour politicians deliver while even the Department for Education website shows that Labour have 1,900 fewer teachers since they took office. Even Keir Starmer forgot what the tax was meant to pay for and instead at one point tweeted that it would allow for more housing!
The impact of education tax is impossible to overestimate with thousands of pupils being forced out of their schools and dozens of schools forced to close halfway through the year. However, the sudden collapse of some of the United Kingdom’s most historic independent schools has also exposed a dangerous vulnerability at the heart of our education sector namely the potential for foreign influence in our independent sector.
Within a single week, Ruthin School, a 742-year-old cornerstone of Welsh education, and Durham High School, a 142-year-old pioneer for girls’ education, announced their imminent closures. Coming on the heels of similar turmoil at Malvern St James in Worcestershire, which is set to close later this year, these aren’t isolated cases. All three institutions are linked to a single corporate group, Galaxy Global Education, whose ultimate ownership is linked with China. The abrupt nature of these closures, coming just as summer terms concluded and leaving families with mere weeks to secure new schools for September, should set alarm bells ringing across government.
What Bridget Phillipson has failed to grasp, or wilfully ignored, is that our education sector is the envy of the world. The independent sector is a key part of our soft power and has long been desired by investors, both domestic and foreign. Upon deeper review it seems a number of our independent schools have come under the ownership of Chinese business groups in recent years.
Our schools are famous around the world for their academic rigour and the excellent values they instil into the future leaders of tomorrow. China, in particular, has shown a strong interest in acquiring British independent schools. Unofficial estimates based on publicly available ownership filings indicate around thirty independent schools are now owned by businesses with links to China. Chinese businesses are not independent of the Chinese state so such ownership raises legitimate questions for British legislators about how much operational independence these schools retain from state influence.
The danger here mirrors the crisis that has already compromised our higher education sector. In 2023, Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee issued a stark warning: UK academic institutions provide a “rich feeding ground” for Beijing to achieve political and economic advantage. Our universities have become structurally dependent on Chinese funding, giving a foreign state leverage — through visa restrictions and financial pipelines — if an institution acts against its interests.
By allowing corporate networks with links to China to acquire independent schools, we risk permitting that same dependency to take hold in the school sector too. It raises the possibility that some of our most historic independent schools could become vulnerable to external influence over curriculum content or the suppression of discussion on China’s human rights. This is a risk that should be assessed and guarded against, whatever the current facts of any individual case.
It is a fact that China is asserting itself around the world, including here in the UK. We should not sit by while questions like these go unanswered. If we get this wrong, our national security could be at stake. Education is not a standard commercial asset. It is critical infrastructure of national character, public service, and intellectual development. It is why it is so attractive as an investment.
Alongside the ideological concerns, there is a broader social and economic issue too. The abrupt closure of these three schools has left hundreds of pupils displaced, disrupted teaching careers, and dealt a blow to the local businesses that rely on them.
These closures also threaten to trigger a domino effect across the wider educational landscape. The state sector will now have to cater for these displaced pupils, placing a sudden burden on local authorities who are already struggling.
We can no longer afford to ignore this. I have questioned the government about what they know of the scale of Chinese-linked ownership in our schools, and the lack of data available is a worrying indicator of how this issue has crept up on the Education department.
The lack of transparent data regarding the true extent of foreign ownership in our school system needs to be addressed. The Department for Education, working alongside the Home Office, must urgently establish the true reach of Chinese-linked businesses in our schools. This goes above politics. It is about the security of our children and nation, and the integrity of the British education sector.
Simultaneously, the government must demand rigorous enforcement of the Independent School Standards. No matter who funds a school, the curriculum must remain fair, balanced, and explicitly aligned with fundamental British values. Any attempt by any owner, foreign or domestic, to suppress free speech must be met with the full force of the law.
Finally, an urgent and transparent review should be launched into the circumstances surrounding these closures. What is not yet clear is whether Galaxy Global Education always intended to close these schools or what, if any, influence the Chinese government has over the group’s activities, or whether the closures simply reflect financial or operational difficulties. Those are precisely the questions an independent review needs to answer so we can understand exactly why these schools were driven into closure. Furthermore, we need to understand what safeguards, regulatory, financial, or otherwise are needed to protect pupils and staff at any other schools that may find themselves in a similar position.
Our independent schools are the cornerstone of an internationally respected schooling system. If we continue to treat our educational heritage as expendable, then we risk losing more than just historic buildings. We risk losing sovereignty over how our children are educated.