The way I want to try and end private schools is by making our national education service so good you wouldn't... — Angela Rayner

The way I want to try and end private schools is by making our national education service so good you wouldn't want to waste your money.

Author: Angela Rayner

Insight: There's something quietly radical about this approach: instead of attacking what others have, make what's public so genuinely good that people stop wanting the alternative. It flips the usual political script of restriction into one of aspiration. The insight applies way beyond schools. We see this tension everywhere—why people buy bottled water instead of trusting tap water, why some skip public hospitals, why gated communities exist. Often the answer isn't that private is inherently superior, but that public services have been allowed to deteriorate. When a train system actually runs on time and feels clean and well-maintained, fewer people drive. When libraries are vibrant and well-funded, fewer people feel they need to buy everything. What's interesting is how this requires genuine investment and faith upfront, without guarantee. You can't shame people into using public services; you have to make them work so well that choosing them feels like the obvious choice, not the sacrifice. It's less about winning an argument and more about building something so solid that the argument becomes irrelevant. That's harder than it sounds, but it points toward why public goods matter—not as charity, but as something worth getting right for everyone.