New research shows millionaires are abandoning Britain in droves | Wilnesh News

LONDON – A record number of millionaires are expected to leave the UK this year, new research shows, with this year’s general election expected to exacerbate the situation further.

this Henry Private Wealth Migration Report The UK is expected to lose a net 9,500 high-net-worth individuals by 2024, more than double the 4,200 lost last year (which itself is an all-time high).

The UK ranks second in Henry’s rankings, behind China, with the East Asian giant expected to see a net outflow of 15,200 millionaires by 2024.

The forecasts mark a radical shift for Britain, once seen as a prime location for the world’s super-rich. Henley, a consulting firm that tracks immigration trends, noted that from the 1950s to the early 2000s, wealthy families moved to the country’s shores in droves from continental Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

“However, this trend began to reverse about a decade ago as more millionaires began to leave the country and fewer came in,” it said in the report.

The study added: “Notably, the UK lost a total of 16,500 millionaires to immigration in the six-year post-Brexit period from 2017 to 2023. Provisional estimates for 2024 are even more worrying.”

Hannah White, chief executive of a government think tank, said this year’s general election could accelerate the exodus of millionaires.

Recent polls show the centre-left Labor Party clearly ahead of its rival right-wing Conservatives. A poll published by Savanta for The Daily Telegraph over the weekend showed: Labor received 46% of the votemore than double the Conservative Party’s 21%, and the populist right-wing Reform Party not far behind, at 13%.

Labor positions itself as a pro-business party focused on wealth creation. However, its election manifesto also made clear plans to target loopholes that benefit the wealthy in order to better fund public services. It promises to close so-called tax loopholes for undomiciled individuals, reduce tax avoidance, remove tax breaks for private schools and raise taxes on residential property purchased by non-UK residents.

“An exodus of high-net-worth individuals, already generated by the economic and political backdrop, is now accelerated by policy decisions ahead of the election,” White wrote in Henry’s report.

“As well as already imposing a 40% duty on estates over the £325,000 ($412,420) threshold, the Conservative government has adopted the thrust of Labour’s opposition policy to end the UK’s non-domestic tax system from 2025. For the UK The UK’s non-domestic tax system. Labor’s pledge to remove the 20% VAT exemption enjoyed by private schools would be a further unwelcome development for children in the UK’s highly regarded private school sector,” White added.

Henry said the number of millionaires in the UK had fallen by 8% over the past decade, which contrasted with most other major economies in Europe and beyond. For example, the number of high-net-worth individuals in Germany increased by 15% during this period, while the number in the United States increased by 62%.

—CNBC’s Jenni Reid contributed to this report.