A record number of millionaires could leave the United Kingdom this year as political turmoil and the potential for higher taxes under a future Labour government reduce the appeal of what was once among the top destinations for the rich.
As many as 9,500 people with at least $1 million in liquid, investable assets, will leave the country, more than double the number that left in 2023, according to provisional estimates contained in a report Tuesday by migration advisers Henley & Partners.
“These figures reflect a steady accumulation of factors detracting from the UK’s appeal to high-net-worth individuals,” Hannah White, CEO of the Institute for Government, wrote in the report. “The hangover from Brexit continues to be felt, with the City of London no longer seen as the financial center of the world.”
The report is based on data on 150,000 high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) tracked by investment firm New World Wealth. The firm only counts people who stay in their new country more than half of the year, and focuses primarily on company founders, chairs, CEOs, presidents, directors and managing partners.
The continuing exodus from the UK — 16,500 millionaires left between 2017 and 2023 — is part of a global mass migration of the rich that appears to be accelerating. The Henley Private Wealth Migration report found that 128,000 millionaires are set to relocate this year, beating last year’s record by 8,000.
“As the world grapples with a perfect storm of geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty and social upheaval, millionaires are voting with their feet in record numbers,” Dominic Volek, head of private clients at Henley & Partners, said in a press release.
In the tax avoidance industry? No, me neither.
I’m not sure why you lend such credence to stuff churned out by people with such obvious and clear self-interest in the assertions they’re making. “Grown-ups taking over running the country from incompetents and disaster capitalists spells trouble for the filthy rich who may well leave the country” is such a well-worn and nakedly self-serving line I don’t know why you take it so seriously. Like, their whole thing, literally everything they do is to reduce tax for the ultra wealthy. Of course they’re not going to be keen that the economy-crashing “reduce taxes at the top end” party are leaving government, they might have to work even harder than before to exploit a shrinking pool of loopholes. I lost my tiny violin, so I’m all out of sob-story music for them.