London was once globally renowned as the “billionaires’ playground”, where the world’s super-rich could relax in the Georgian townhouses of Mayfair undisturbed by the grasping hand of the state.
But if recent complaints by fleeing ultra-high net worth individuals are to be believed, the city is no longer as welcoming for those who consider themselves to be Britain’s most-persecuted minority.
They complain of Labour’s stricter tax regime and the antipathy of others towards those with extreme wealth. One even suggested that he was leaving the country because of London’s low-traffic neighbourhoods.
“If I want to organise a gathering now, I have to take into account a lot of my friends are not here any more,” said the financier Ben Goldsmith. “How the hell are we supposed to pay for health services and everything if we are driving out the highest rate taxpayers?”
This weekend, one of the UK’s richest people, David Reuben, was revealed to have left the UK for the tax haven of Monaco. The 88-year-old is a property tycoon and Newcastle United shareholder who, along with his younger brother, Simon Reuben, has a combined estimated net worth of nearly £28bn. A spokesperson did not expand on why he left, but tax is thought to be a factor.
Sir Peter Lampl, the millionaire founder of the Sutton Trust charity, said he had absconded to the US because of Sadiq Khan’s traffic policies, complaining that motorists are “pariahs” in London.
Another billionaire, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who owns the chemicals company Ineos, has said he can see why rich people are leaving the UK, describing the country as “on the slide”. Ratcliffe, who fled Britain for Monaco in 2018, complained that “the UK has got a bit of a green eye towards wealth at the moment”.
Others, meanwhile, are unimpressed by the ultra-wealthy’s complaints and the warnings of economic doom for the nation that each new announced exit tends to bring.
Arun Advani, director of CenTax, who is influential in Labour circles and helped design a hiked inheritance tax, said he was unconcerned about billionaire flight.
“Mobility among billionaires is high,” he said. “Many wealthy people leave every year, it just isn’t always reported as loudly as at the moment. So a couple of highly reported examples don’t in themselves indicate anything has changed.”
Multimillionaire Dale Vince said ultra-wealthy individuals need to “stop whingeing”. He confirmed he will be staying in the UK, and added: “The tax system is already skewed in favour of rich people. We have so many allowances, loopholes and exemptions.”
For better or worse, the data shows a clear trend; an analysis of Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index has found that super-rich UK residents worth a combined £121bn have either left or loosened ties with UK since the Labour government came to power in 2024. This represents more than half of all billionaire wealth. Among those who have left are Lakshmi Mittal, Aston Villa co-owner Nassef Sawiris and shipping magnate John Fredriksen.
Rachel Reeves’ removal of the “non-dom” system, which allowed individuals to only pay tax on income generated in the UK, is blamed for many of the exits. Others say they fear new taxes on property as well as hiked inheritance taxes.
Sir James Dyson, worth £12bn, faced criticism for absconding to Singapore in 2019, after telling the country to vote Brexit. He returned in 2021, and has been investing in businesses in the UK ever since.
Denise Coates, founder of gambling company bet365, is worth £8bn and appears to have no plans to leave the country. Billionaire John Caudwell, who founded phones4U, confirmed he was remaining resident in the UK.
There are even some super-rich folk coming to the UK – albeit not universally popular ones. Crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, who gave Reform UK leader Nigel Farage a controversial £5m undeclared gift before he was elected as an MP in 2024, recently registered himself as a UK resident. So did Ben Delo, another crypto billionaire, who has given tens of millions to the party.
Paddy Renouf, who runs luxury concierge service Serendipity, says his ultra-rich clients are still in the UK and spending money.
“I am puzzled as much as anybody else about the rumours of the exodus. England is incomparable to the super-rich. There is no culture as rich with art, restaurants or history; Monaco and Dubai cannot compete on that level.”
He did concede there was some “nervousness” among his clients, adding: “Very wealthy people don’t mind paying taxes if they can anticipate them. But there is a lot of uncertainty at the moment. It is bad if we do lose them.”
Philip Munro, partner at law firm Withers, said more entrepreneurs are asking about leaving the UK, and a steady stream of reports that their peers are also leaving has “concentrated their minds”.
He blames capital gains tax and removal of business property relief on inheritance tax and said inquiries are coming in about moving residency to Dubai, Greece, Italy, Monaco and Switzerland.
Goldsmith agreed that there is “herd behaviour” caused by “social media hype” around the UK’s supposed hostility to the rich.
He added: “People overestimate crime and tax, they underestimate the downsides of living elsewhere.
“London was a hub for foreign billionaires. They pay a lot of tax, they hire a lot of people, they spend a lot of money, they are the most mobile people around, so getting money out of them is an art form.
“There’s nothing to force them to stay here; you have to attract them, and we were once good at that.”
Vince has less sympathy. Pointing at Ratcliffe’s exit as an example, he said: “He got rich here and then made off to Monaco to save himself money.
“He avoided giving back to the economy that made him a billionaire and now he bangs on that it is a bad place to do business when he became a billionaire here!
“It’s pathetic. He and anyone else who leaves here to not pay tax should be stripped of their honours.”
