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LONDON — A record number of billionaires are expected to leave Britain this year, according to a new survey, and this year’s general election is expected to make the exodus even worse.
According to the Henry Private Wealth Migration Report, the UK is expected to experience a net loss of 9,500 wealthy people in 2024, more than double last year’s figure of 4,200 (itself a record high).
Henry’s ranking puts the UK in second place behind China, with the East Asian giant predicted to see a net outflow of 15,200 billionaires in 2024.
The prediction marks a major shift for Britain, once seen as the top destination for the world’s super-rich. Henley, a consultancy that tracks migration trends, said wealthy families from across continental Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East moved to the UK between the 1950s and the early 2000s.
“However, this trend began to reverse about a decade ago, with more billionaires leaving the country and fewer entering,” the report said.
“Notably, in the six years following Brexit, from 2017 to 2023, the UK has lost a total of 16,500 millionaires to immigration, with provisional estimates for 2024 being even more worrying,” the study added.
Hannah White, CEO of the Institute for Government think tank, said this year’s general election could accelerate the exodus of billionaires.
Recent opinion polls have given the centre-left Labour Party a commanding lead over its right-wing rival the Conservatives. A Savanta poll for The Telegraph published over the weekend put Labour on track to win 46% of the vote, more than double the Conservatives’ 21%, with the right-wing populist Reform Party close behind on 13%.
Labour has positioned itself as a pro-business party focused on wealth creation, but its election manifesto also makes clear its plans to target tax loopholes that favour the wealthy to better fund public services. Labour has pledged to close so-called non-resident tax loopholes, reduce tax evasion, end tax breaks for private schools and raise taxes on residential property bought by people outside the UK.
“The flight of the wealthy, already driven by the economic and political situation, has been exacerbated by pre-election policy decisions,” White wrote in Henry’s report.
“This is on top of the 40% tax already levied on properties worth over £325,000. [$412,420] “The Conservative government has adopted the thrust of Labour’s policy to abolish the UK’s non-resident tax regime from 2025. And for those educating their children in the UK’s well-regarded private schools, a further unwelcome development will be Labour’s promise to remove the 20% VAT exemption enjoyed by private schools,” White added.
Henry said the number of billionaires in the UK has fallen 8% over the past decade, in stark contrast to most of Europe and other major economies: The number of wealthy people in Germany, for example, grew 15% over the period, while in the US it grew 62%.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated a key point about the net loss of UK billionaires in 2023.
—CNBC’s Jenni Reid contributed to this report.
