Britain’s richest have no incentive to stay, says rugby team owner

Millionaires living in Britain have “no incentive” to stay because of Labour’s tax policies , one of the country’s wealthiest men has said. Andrew Thirkill, who co-owns rugby league team Hull FC , accused the Government of “attacking” entrepreneurs and called Labour’s tax rises “a vicious downward death spiral”. Mr Thirkill, who is also the founder of Sovereign Life Group, a financial services company, added that John Healey’s Budget was “uninspiring”, and claimed that the country would not be able to stand another five years of a Labour government.

He told The Telegraph: “I look at that Budget and think, what is the incentive for business owners? “There’s nothing. It’s all disincentive. So ... would I contemplate leaving the UK? Yes, if there’s no point being here because it means my wealth can be destroyed.” Mr Thirkill – who has a reported net worth of £175m – added: “If we go down this route of taxing business owners and flattening aspiration, like we are doing, and destroying people who are working hard – people who want to work hard – and they disappear, the country will be left in an economic mess.

“We just see nothing but gloom. It’s just tax everything you can get your hands on. Tax it, tax it, tax it. It’s demoralising.” Since Labour won the general election in 2024, employers have been hit with increases to National Insurance contributions, above-inflation increases in the minimum wage and changes to business relief. According to Ryan, the world’s largest business tax specialist, tax changes have left businesses with a £3.3bn bill to comply with more than 100 policy changes this year.

Overlapping tax rises in recent years, meanwhile, have repeatedly targeted wealthier individuals, from VAT on private school fees to inheritance tax changes. Years of frozen tax thresholds , first introduced under Rishi Sunak, mean that an estimated 600,000 more people will be higher-rate taxpayers by the start of the next decade. Mr Thirkill said that under this Labour government, “the more successful you are, the bigger your problems become”.

“Under this regime, you think to yourself, what am I doing it for? Because I’m going to just create a problem for my family if I’m successful,” he said. Some wealthier individuals have already left the UK. Last November, Lakshmi Mittal, the steel magnate worth more than £15bn according to the Sunday Times Rich List, was said to have moved his tax residence to Switzerland , and would spend most of his time in Dubai. Earlier this month, Shravin Bharti Mittal, the son of Indian billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal, was confirmed to have left Britain for the United Arab Emirates with a $23.3bn (£18.4bn) share of the family fortune.

Sir Peter Lampl , the millionaire founder of the Sutton Trust charity, told The Telegraph he had quit the UK because of Lord Khan’s transport policies in London. “More and more people of my type appear to have come to the same conclusion... It’s a mass exodus,” Sir Peter said. “And while there will be many other reasons that so many other wealthy individuals have quit Britain, for me not being able to move around the city as I needed to was the clinching factor.”

Richard Fuller, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, warned that a potential exodus of Britain’s wealthiest “should set alarm bells ringing in Downing Street”. He said: “The talent and potential of our country is our greatest resource. You cannot keep piling taxes on wealth creators and expect the economy to grow. “Labour needs to get a grip, stop discouraging our talent from striving for success and make Britain a country people want to invest in.”

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, told The Telegraph that every millionaire who left meant thousands were lost in tax, and those who remained would have to pay more “to cover the ballooning welfare bill”. He said: “Ministers need to stop punishing success and start making Britain an attractive place to call home, to invest, build businesses and create jobs.” A Treasury spokesman said: “The UK is an attractive destination for talent and investment with a competitive and stable tax system, the fastest growth in the G7 in the first half of the year and business investment at its highest share of GDP since 2016.

“This Budget rejected broad-based tax rises and chose to strengthen the UK’s offer to entrepreneurs, with new measures including new tax reliefs to help businesses start, scale and stay here, creating jobs, attracting investment and driving growth.”