Nightmare for Andy Burnham and John Healey as billionaires worth £120bn abandon Britain.TA
Some have headed for countries including Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, Greece and Monaco.
John Healey says UK economy is showing ‘huge resilience’
Andy Burnham and John Healey have been dealt a fresh headache after billionaires with fortunes worth around £120billion left Britain following Labour’s return to power. A string of super-rich individuals have made the move since Labour returned to power, according to analysis of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Some have headed for countries including Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, Greece and Monaco amid big changes to Britain’s tax system.
The departures come at an awkward time for Prime Minister Mr Burnham and Chancellor Mr Healey as they prepare for a difficult Budget on October 28. Among the biggest names to leave is steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, whose £31billion fortune made him the wealthiest person in the group, according to the analysis.
He left Britain last year for Switzerland and Dubai. Another recent departure is hedge fund billionaire Chris Rokos, who is preparing to relocate to Greece. Mr Rokos has an estimated £3billion fortune and paid around £330million in tax last year, making him Britain’s third-biggest taxpayer.
The departures have led to warnings from business experts about the potential impact on investment and Britain’s tax revenues. Luke Johnson, the entrepreneur and co-owner of Gail’s Bakery, said: “It is a disaster for the country that big taxpayers and important investors are leaving.
“They help fund public services and create jobs, and their exits will create a growing hole in the national finances. We should be attracting talent and wealth, not alienating it.”
Former Pizza Express entrepreneur Hugh Osmond was equally critical. He said: “It’s what we all said would happen and Labour didn’t believe it. Too high tax – big taxpayers leave. Obvious.”
Andy Burnham and John Healey have been dealt a fresh headache (Image: Getty)
Labour’s overhaul of the non-dom system came into effect on April 6, 2025. Under the previous rules, qualifying non-doms could avoid UK tax on certain overseas income and gains kept outside Britain.
The changes have been blamed by some wealthy individuals and their advisers for encouraging people to leave, although the extent of the wider financial impact remains disputed.
Phones 4u founder John Caudwell said: “What’s happening at the moment is disastrous. Instead of being on a virtuous circle where we’re attracting millionaires, billionaires and inward investment, we are doing the reverse.”
The row is particularly sensitive ahead of Mr Healey’s first Budget, with speculation growing over whether he could make further changes to capital gains tax as he looks for money while facing pressure over public spending. No further CGT increase has yet been announced.
Mr Burnham and Mr Healey prepare for a difficult Budget on October 28 (Image: Getty)
Jack Hollyman, managing director at Alvarez & Marsal, warned that wealthy investors can respond quickly to changes in taxation.
He said: “Tax rises don’t happen in a vacuum. Investors and entrepreneurs can change when they realise gains, where they put their money and, ultimately, where they live.
“We saw that in 2024 and 2025, when non-doms left the UK amid concerns about overseas businesses being brought within the scope of UK inheritance tax.”
Mr Hollyman said there was also speculation that the Treasury could consider an “exit charge” aimed at people leaving Britain.
But he warned: “Even the prospect of such a measure risks adding to the uncertainty facing business owners and investors.”
Migrant dinghy found within 2 miles off Dover in fresh Channel security scare
EXCLUSIVE: Boat somehow reached British waters unescorted and continued towards the Kent coast before finally being intercepted
32 migrants were found off the coast of DOver (Image: Getty)
More than 30 migrants made it to within two miles of Dover in a fresh security scare for immigration chiefs. Two Border Security Command vessels and an RNLI lifeboat scrambled to a dinghy just two miles off the coast of Dover.
It somehow reached British waters unescorted and continued towards the Kent coast before finally being intercepted. Some 32 migrants were found on board after crossing through fog. The revelations emerged as Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp declared that deporting illegal migrants immediately is the “only way” to protect communities like Piddington from the asylum crisis.
The senior Tory insisted small boat arrivals must be booted out “within a week of arrival”. And he vowed to dismantle the legal architecture used by failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and visa overstayers to repeatedly fight attempts to remove them.
Mr Philp told Tory members: “The consequence of illegal entry will be immediate removal. Because if illegal immigrants know they will quickly be deported they won’t come in the first place.”
The Tory borders chief pointed to Home Office plans to dump 1,256 asylum seekers next to the picturesque Oxfordshire village of Piddington, which is home to around 350 people.
And he said the horrific murder of Rhiannon Whyte illustrates why ministers must end the small boats crisis.
Sudanese asylum seeker Deng Majek stabbed mother-of-one Rhiannon 23 times in a frenzied 90-second attack after following the 27-year-old from his asylum hotel to Bescot Road railway station in Walsall in 2024.
Majek was later seen dancing and joking in the hotel car park. The Sudanese monster had arrived on a small boat about three months before the attack.
And Mr Philp said: “The truth is we cannot have strong borders while in the ECHR. Successive governments have tried, and it hasn’t worked.
“So, the next Conservative government will leave the ECHR.
“That way we can deport illegal immigrants within a week of arrival. No asylum claims. No human rights claims. Just detention followed by rapid deportation back to the county of origin or to a safe third country.
“It worked in Australia 13 years ago and it will work here today.
“Tough? Yes. But here’s the truth: it’s the only thing that will work to protect places like Piddington, to protect young women like Rhiannon and to protect our borders. And we will do it.”
Mr Philp vowed on Wednesday to “immediately” close Labour’s new safe and legal routes while “illegal migration is rife”.
The Shadow Home Secretary accused Shabana Mahmood of “opening our borders even more” by re-establishing the UK Resettlement Scheme and creating three new community sponsorship routes.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp addresses Tory members (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster / Daily Express)
Under a Conservative government, illegal migration will have to fall to nearly zero before similar schemes are considered.
Thousands of migrants are expected to arrive under Labour’s new schemes every year once they are fully up and running.
Charities, faith groups and businesses will be able to apply to host people from next year. And Mr Philp warned “those coming will have the right to bring in their whole extended families too”.
He said: “Labour now also wants to bring more people here directly from Afghanistan and Gaza – where the October 7th massacre was openly celebrated on the streets. Those coming will have the right to bring in their whole extended families too.
“While illegal migration is rife, the government should not be opening our borders even more – and we would close this scheme down immediately.”
More than 20,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year – including 1,000 in just two days.
Some 418 people were packed into five dinghies on Sunday, while 609 asylum seekers were detected in 8 vessels on Monday.
And Mr Philp warned the small boats emergency has created a “public safety crisis… especially for women and girls”.
He told the Conservative Party Conference: “Girls as young as 12 have been raped by illegal small boat migrants.
“Afghan men are 22 times more likely to commit sex offences than average – one even recently brought a 14-year old-girl he was abusing to the UK on a small boat.
“This is not just a borders crisis – it is a public safety crisis … especially for women and girls. And we must end it.
“What is Andy Burnham’s answer? Not deportation. Distribution. He thinks every town and village should have its own share of illegal immigrants.”
The senior Tory slammed “many on the left” for throwing Britain’s borders open.
He said: “Without strong borders we are no country at all.
“Many on the left think that we should let in anyone who wants to come. That every person with a claim to sympathy should be accommodated. They think only of the supposed rights of illegal immigrants. Or prioritise the rights of foreign criminals to stay here.
“We can’t keep on like this. It isn’t fair to the British people. The cost – financial and social – is simply too high.
“Borders matter. Control matters. Numbers matter.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We have made progress tackling the small boats. Crossings are down significantly, and we have just recorded the lowest number of summer arrivals since 2020.
“We are taking action, with joint efforts preventing over 48,000 crossing attempts and seizing 1,100 boats and engines since the election.
“But we must go further, which is why we are boosting the number of officers on the ground in France and removing the pull factors drawing people here through illegal and dangerous routes.”
