The Bishop of Southwark has said he is "deeply concerned" about the impact of the government's plans to remove a VAT exemption from private schools. 

The proposals were debated in the House of Lords on Thursday and Bishop Christopher Chessun was one of a number of critics to speak. 

He warned of "adverse and unintended" consequences and said that the government needed to apply the changes with "much greater sensitivity".

He said that although Southwark Cathedral's boys' and girls' choirs are drawn mostly from state schools and therefore largely unaffected by the change, other cathedral and choir schools stand to be "severely affected", as do private schools that serve children with special educational needs. 

"Many of these are small schools, and therefore the impact will be disproportionately severe," he said, adding that the special needs provision currently covered by private funding could not be absorbed by local authority education budgets. 

He questioned the appropriateness of removing the exemption "at such short notice" on 1 January 2025, giving schools "little time to adjust budgets". 

"I am a grammar school boy and I could not sing the 'Eton Boating Song' if you paid me, yet I am deeply concerned about the adverse and unintended consequences which this manifesto commitment will have unless it is applied with much greater sensitivity — and possibly also phased in — affecting, as this does, the enormous variety of private school provision, about which we have heard and which is committed to public benefit," he said. 

The House of Lords also heard from Catholic crossbench peer Lord Alton who said that the plans may be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

He said that while wealthy families will be unaffected by the "regressive" tax, it will "disproportionately impact middle-income families like those of the 168,000 children who receive financial support from the independent schools or the 10,000 who pay no fees". 

He called on the government to re-consider its plans.

"These are the families, many of whom have made great sacrifices for their children's education, who will suffer, not those with ultra deep pockets," he said. 

"Top of our concerns should be the impact on children. It clearly isn't. This taxation is unjust, unfair, may be in breach of the ECHR and will likely worsen educational inequalities.

"The government should dwell a pause and think again."

Several Christian schools have already closed down as a result of the plans, including Kilgraston, Scotland's only Catholic boarding school.

Cedars Christian school in Greenock, west Scotland, is closing at the end of the month and St Joseph's Preparatory School in Stoke-on-Trent is to shutter in December. 

The schools have all cited the VAT changes as a factor in their closures. 

Niel Deepnarain, head of Unite for Education, a Scotland-based Christian education charity, said that children will be "worse off as a result" of the closures.

"Children across Scotland are faced with increased indoctrination in the classroom, so the need for Christian education has never been greater," he said. 

He added, "It is clear that the decision of the new Labour government to impose VAT on school fees from January has been one burden too many for families already facing high living costs."