ANOTHER British multi-millionaire threatens to quit the UK - blaming Labour tax rises for plunging nation into 'vicious downward death spiral'

Another British multimillionaire has threatened to quit the UK saying Labour's tax rises have plunged it into 'a vicious downward death spiral'. Andrew Thirkill, one of the UK's richest men, said the country will not be able to stand another five years of a Labour government and that under it 'the more successful you are, the bigger your problems become'. The co-owner and founder of financial services giant Sovereign Life, said to be worth £175million, said millionaires have 'no incentive' to stay in the UK because of Labour's 'tax it, tax it, tax it' mentality.

Mr Thirkill, who co-owns rugby league team Hull FC, also slammed the Government for 'attacking' entrepreneurs and wrote John Healey's first Budget off as 'uninspiring'. '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. If he quits the UK, he will follow in the footsteps of a string of multi-millionaires who have left British shores because of the Labour government.

Policies including changes to inheritance tax, increases to National Insurance contributions, continued increases in the minimum wage, changes to the business relief and VAT on private school fees have all sent them running for the hills to more business-friendly havens. Over £120bn of individual and family fortunes have left the UK since Labour won the General Election in 2024 according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index which says the number of high net worth individuals quitting has 'rocketed'.

Andrew Thirkill, one of the UK's richest men, said the country will not be able to stand another five years of a Labour government The co-owner of founder of financial services giant Sovereign Life, said to be worth £175million, said millionaires have 'no incentive' to stay in the UK because of Labour's 'tax it, tax it, tax it' mentality It cites Shravin Bharti Mittal, son of Indian billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal, who was confirmed to have left Britain for the United Arab Emirates with a $23.3bn (£18.4bn) share of the family fortune just this month, and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal among them.

Mr Mittal, said to be worth more than £15bn, moved his tax residence to Switzerland last November. He now spends most of his time in Dubai. Meanwhile millionaire Sir Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton Trust charity, talked about 'a mass exodus of wealthy individuals for many reasons' when he quit the UK because of London Mayor Sadiq Khan's transport policies. Mr Thirkill said that if Labour continued to 'go down this route of taxing business owners and flattening aspiration like they 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,' Mr Thirkill said today. In an interview with the Telegraph he said the Budget was all 'disincentive' for business owners, adding he would contemplate leaving the UK 'if there's no point being here because it means my wealth can be destroyed'. Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Richard Fuller said 'alarm bells should be ringing in Downing Street' because the 'talent and potential of our country is our greatest resource'.

Warning against piling taxes on people who created wealth, he said Labour needed to 'get a grip' and 'stop discouraging our talent from striving for success and make Britain a country people want to invest in'. Taxpayers' Alliance chief executive John O'Connell warned that for every millionaire the UK loses, it loses thousands in tax, leaving others to foot the 'ballooning welfare bill'. A Treasury spokesman claimed the Budget would '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'.