Ed O'Brien

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Ed O'Brien

Ed O'Brien

@EdOBrien

Mainly interested in military technology, global security and education.

UK Katılım Ocak 2009
912 Takip Edilen654 Takipçiler
Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien@EdOBrien·
@EducationNotTax @bphillipsonMP @bphillipsonMP was lucky enough to be able to thrive in a mainstream educational environment and can’t seem to comprehend that any child could possibly need anything different. Her treatment of SEN kids (in state and independent) indicates she may not even believe SEN is real.
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Education Not Taxation
Education Not Taxation@EducationNotTax·
Take note @bphillipsonMP. For some children, state schools with their larger class sizes are not the answer. That’s why some parents choose independent schools—schools that can meet their child’s needs. Don’t tax it out of reach, support it so it’s available to more children. #EducationNotTax
Justin Baeder, PhD@eduleadership

Some kids need small classes tailored to their needs. Inclusion cannot work for 100% of students. And we need to bring back more alternative schools. #education #teachersoftiktok

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Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien@EdOBrien·
@Davidpr52119342 @balmer_tim @joerichlaw Err yes, CEA (like any other allowance) is increased annually to account for inflation (although the increases to CEA haven’t keep up with inflation). This normal annual adjustment is irrelevant as it did not include any increase to account for the new taxation Labour imposed.
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Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien@EdOBrien·
@dshensmith @dshensmith Does treating two military groups differently (ie taxing one & exempting the other) on the basis of their nationality constitute discrimination? US forces in the UK are only exempt VAT specific things. The UK Gov agreed to add education, thus granting an exemption.
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Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien@EdOBrien·
@joerichlaw Hmmm, treating two similar groups of people differently (by taxing one and exempting the other) on the basis of their nationality (nationality being a protected characteristic under the 2010 Equality Act). Smells a bit like a discrimination case…
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Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien@EdOBrien·
@CF_Farrow If the government has exempted one group of military people from this tax but not another on the basis of their nationality (which the 2010 Equality Act, Part 2, Chapter 1, Section 9 defines as a protected characteristic), does this constitute discrimination in a legal sense?
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Caroline Farrow
Caroline Farrow@CF_Farrow·
So children of the USA military are exempted from VAT on school fees, but not children of serving UK military, or indeed children with SEND needs! 🤯
Independent Schools Council@ISC_schools

"We are disappointed that a similar exemption has not been made for the children of UK service personnel, in their own country." - @The_AFF Children of US soldiers are exempt from VAT on independent school fees in the UK, @Telegraph reveals telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/labo…

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Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien@EdOBrien·
@Davidpr52119342 @balmer_tim @joerichlaw This is not true. While CEA was increased, it was only increased by c14%, while the Gov applied 20% VAT and removed business rates relief from schools and increased employer NICs, all at the same time. This means service families are paying much more so the impact is not minimal!
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David Price
David Price@Davidpr52119342·
@balmer_tim @joerichlaw the MOD provide the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA), which was increased in 2024 to account for the impact of VAT on private school fees. so the impact of VAT on British Military Personnel is minimal.
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Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien@EdOBrien·
@stone3Clare Eligibility is only partly about whether military families are based abroad. It’s mainly about how often they move, so whether the children would need to move schools in the middle of GCSE or A Level courses (or if younger move schools so often it damages their education).
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Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien@EdOBrien·
US military families based in UK don’t pay tax on independent school fees but British military families do. Military families must move regularly so lots rely on independent boarding schools for continuity. Has Labour heard of the Armed Forces Covenant? telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/labo…
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Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien@EdOBrien·
@stone3Clare 4.d. If you don’t believe the MOD enforces its very tight rules on CEA or think that those of high rank are somehow allowed to abuse the system, read this article ⬇️ about a very senior Army officer who abused the system and was rightly jailed for it. bbc.com/news/uk-englan…
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Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien@EdOBrien·
@stone3Clare 4.c. When the MOD moves the family to a difficult part of the country, the child has to remain at the boarding school they are at because the whole point of the allowance is to enable the child not to have to move schools when the MOD moves their family.
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Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien@EdOBrien·
@stone3Clare 4.b. Families don’t qualify if parents live apart. ie if one lives in a permanent home somewhere and so doesn’t move when the MOD moves the other parent. This is because the child can avoid moving schools without CEA by going to school near the non-moving parent’s permanent home.
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Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien@EdOBrien·
@stone3Clare 3. It doesn’t matter if the school is close to where the parents live right now as it certainly won’t be close to wherever the MOD requires them to move next. CEA allows and requires the child to stay at the same school (wherever that happens to be), when the family home moves.
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Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien@EdOBrien·
@PeterCClub Hmmm, I think I’ll give Peter the “Cannabis Connoisseur” a miss on principle. Blocked. Needless to say, he is so far off the mark as to be effectively completely wrong. You can read about how the system he’s referring to actually works here ⬇️. aff.org.uk/advice/money-a…
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Canna Club
Canna Club@PeterCClub·
@EdOBrien British Military families get private school education at next to nothing. I know my nephews are at a Private school because my brother in law is in RAF. They have had an advantage over my children who are at state school & I went to a Private school. Time to abolish private edu.
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Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien@EdOBrien·
@TatesOofVlogsYt I agree. Hopefully Labour’s education tax will be struck down by in court very soon as a result of the ongoing legal challenges. The courts recently expedited these cases to give a legal ruling ASAP to limit the damage being done to kids’ education & prevent more school closures.
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CallOfDutyDailyX
CallOfDutyDailyX@TatesOofVlogsYt·
@EdOBrien The military should not be facing this and it should have been an exemption for forces personnel. The fall out from this tax is utterly abhorrent for the whole of the uk. Awful act by the government to damage middle England!
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Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien@EdOBrien·
Perhaps the government should have noted this before they imposed tax on independent education. And no, despite @bphillipsonMP’s claims, the tax on independent education won’t make state schools better (the head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies stated this very clearly).
United Nations@UN

Quality education is not a luxury —it is a human right. On Friday's #EducationDay, learn about how the #GlobalGoals can help ensure inclusive, quality education for a better future for all: un.org/sustainabledev…

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Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien@EdOBrien·
@factual1st @DrNShastriHurst Perhaps this will contribute to the weight of the ongoing legal challenges which the courts have expedited so they can rule on the legality of Labour’s school tax (& hopefully strike it down) before too much damage is caused to kids education and more schools are forced to close.
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Frezianfly
Frezianfly@factual1st·
@DrNShastriHurst Can she do this legally? Isn't it discriminatory? Might there be another court case heading her way?
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Keşfet

@EducationNotTax @bphillipsonMP @Davidpr52119342 @balmer_tim @joerichlaw @dshensmith @CF_Farrow @stone3Clare