Labour’s decision to impose VAT on private school fees is now threatening the survival of Britain’s historic choir schools, according to the presenter and singer Alexander Armstrong, who says the policy risks dismantling a centuries old musical tradition.
Armstrong warned that the “writing is on the wall” for many cathedral choir schools which simply do not have the financial strength to absorb the Government’s 20 per cent tax on fees, a measure pushed through by Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government.
The broadcaster, who presents the BBC quiz show Pointless and hosts programmes on Classic FM, knows the system first hand. As a child he was a chorister at St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh, and he says the delicate ecosystem that has sustained cathedral music for generations is now in serious jeopardy.
He said the policy risks tearing apart the “fragile fabric of a culture that has worked beautifully for a very long time”.
His warning comes as Exeter Cathedral School, founded in the 12th century, confirmed it will close its preparatory school from September due to what it described as “unavoidable financial pressures”. Choristers have been educated there since 1179, according to the school’s own records, making it one of the longest continuous musical education traditions in the country.
From September, the cathedral will move its choristers to Exeter School, another independent school in the area.
Parents attempted to save the institution with a fundraising campaign aimed at raising £650,000 by April. So far, however, donations stand at only £40,000, highlighting just how precarious the situation has become.
Writing in Country Life magazine, Armstrong argued that choir schools play a unique role in British cultural life and are not the bastions of privilege Labour caricatures them as.
“Chorister places are, on principle, open to children of any background, with selection based on musical potential rather than means. The schools themselves are jewels.”
He added that these institutions have long survived through determination and generosity rather than vast wealth.
“In fact, it is because there is so much love for them that they have been (just about) able to limp on, supported by generous donations, ingenuity and hard graft. If they could just make it, they reason, to a time of stronger economic performance, perhaps they could yet adapt and thrive.
“[But] then came VAT on school fees. Since then, it’s hard not to feel that, barring a miracle, the writing is on the wall for all our choir schools. The less well-resourced cathedrals will be the first to close them down and the rest will eventually find themselves having to follow.”
Armstrong did acknowledge efforts by some institutions to adapt. Exeter Cathedral’s partnership with Exeter School, along with models where choristers attend a range of different schools, may keep some choirs afloat.
But even these solutions raise questions about the long term sustainability of the system.
“How sustainable will this model be? Excellence is the fuel of the whole enterprise,” he wrote.
Armstrong is one of the few high profile figures willing to openly criticise Labour’s tax on independent schools. All four of his sons attend a local independent school, a decision he says was made out of necessity rather than privilege.
In an interview with The Telegraph last year, he said: “I’m feeling really, really angry about that, and extremely poor.”
He explained that specialist opportunities available in the independent sector were vital for his children.
“In our case, private school is the only place available for our children to learn music. Our 10 year old has special educational needs, he couldn’t survive in the state system.
“We have chosen that not because we’re evil, and not because we want to buy a head-start for our children, but we want them to have as good an education as we can get.”
Armstrong also criticised the tone of the policy’s introduction, accusing Labour of exploiting resentment rather than governing responsibly.
“There’s a real anger towards private schools from some quarters and I find that so antithetical to everything I believe about society.
“There was something really vituperative about [Sir Keir Starmer] bringing it in in the middle of the school year. I loathe tribal politics. I’m allergic to it from the Right and scared of it from the Left. It felt really unpleasant and nasty.”
The consequences of Labour’s policy are already becoming visible. According to the Independent Schools Council, more than 100 private schools have closed since the tax came into force on January 1, 2025.
A survey conducted by the body last September of 1,150 schools found that nearly 25,000 pupils had already been forced out of the independent sector since Labour entered government, more than eight times the decline the Government itself had predicted at that point.
For critics, the closure of institutions like Exeter Cathedral School may prove to be only the beginning, as a policy driven more by ideology than evidence begins to dismantle parts of Britain’s educational and cultural heritage.
