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LONDON – A record number of millionaires are expected to leave the UK this year, according to new research, with this year's general election expected to further boost emigration.
The Henley Private Wealth Migration Report indicates that Britain will experience a net loss of 9,500 high-net-worth individuals in 2024 – more than double last year's 4,200 (which itself was a record-high figure).
The UK is second only to China in Henley's ranking, with the East Asian giant expected to see a net outflow of 15,200 billionaires in 2024.
The estimates mark a major shift for Britain, once seen as a prime location for the world's super-rich. Henley, a consultancy that tracks migration trends, noted that between the 1950s and the early 2000s, the country saw many wealthy families move from the mainland to its shores from 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 arrived,” it said in its report.
“Notably, over the six-year period from 2017 to 2023 post-Brexit, the UK lost a total of 16,500 millionaires to migration. Provisional estimates for 2024 are even more alarming,” the study added.
Hannah White, CEO of the Institute for Government think tank, noted that this year's general election could accelerate the exodus of millionaires.
Recent polls have given the centre-left Labor Party a significant lead over its rival right-wing Conservative Party. A Savant poll for The Telegraph newspaper, published over the weekend, 46% voted LabourMore than double the Conservatives' 21%, with the populist right-wing party Reform not far behind with 13%.
Labor has positioned itself as a pro-business party with a focus on wealth creation. However, its election manifesto is also clear that it plans to target loopholes favoring the wealthy in order to better fund public services. It promised to close tax loopholes for so-called nondomiciled individuals, reduce tax avoidance, remove tax breaks for independent schools and increase tax on residential property purchases by non-UK residents.
“The outflow of high-net-worth individuals already created in the economic and political context is now being accelerated by policy decisions ahead of the election,” White wrote in Henley's report.
“On top of the 40% tax already imposed on estates above the £325,000 ($412,420) threshold, the Conservative government has embraced the Labor opposition's policy push to end the UK's non-dom tax regime from 2025. And children in the UK's prestigious private school sector for those teaching them. , Labor's commitment to remove the 20% VAT exemption enjoyed by private schools would be a further unwelcome development,” White added.
According to Henley, in stark contrast to other major economies in Europe and beyond, the number of millionaires in the UK has fallen by 8% over the past decade. For example, the number of high-net-worth individuals in Germany increased by 15% during the period, while the number in the United States increased by 62%.
Correction: Key points in an earlier version of this article misstated the net loss for UK millionaires in 2023.
— CNBC's Jenny Reid contributed to this report.
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