The UK general election came last year on July 4th, almost directly in the middle of the year. Because of this, it is easy to see, with moving data, how many Brits moved out of the UK after Sir Keir Starmer’s win compared to beforehand.
Compare My Move has found that there was a 34% increase in international moves right after the 2024 General Election, with the most moves happening in July, August, and September, in that order. Below is a graph that visualises this increase.
Dave Sayce, founder of Compare My Move comments on the data:
“Month on month, July saw a 50% increase in Brits leaving the UK compared to June. This is the largest month-on-month increase we have seen in the last few years, the increase in summer moves is usually more gradual. Year on year, July 2024 saw a massive 86% more movers than July 2023, which wasn’t even 2023’s peak month.
“The sharp uptick of international moves happening right after the election may not be a coincidence. Whenever there is a change in government there is going to be political uncertainty, people who want to, and can, avoid this political uncertainty will likely look to change their own situations before the political landscape changes it for them.”
Where are Brits moving to?
Although there is an increase in Brits moving abroad, different countries will see a different share of the influx. Below is a table that shows which countries saw the highest share of British movers in 2024 and how this has changed year on year.
| Rank | Country | Share of Movers 2023 | Share of Movers 2024 | Share Increase |
| 1 | Spain | 13.9% | 15.4% | 1.5% |
| 2 | United States | 13.1% | 10.1% | -3.0% |
| 3 | France | 9.2% | 8.1% | -1.1% |
| 4 | Australia | 9.0% | 7.7% | -1.3% |
| 5 | Italy | 6.2% | 5.5% | -0.8% |
| 6 | United Arab Emirates | 5.4% | 5.0% | -0.4% |
| 7 | Germany | 5.5% | 4.9% | -0.6% |
| 8 | Ireland | 4.1% | 4.2% | 0.0% |
| 9 | Portugal | 3.6% | 3.7% | 0.0% |
| 10 | Canada | 3.4% | 3.3% | -0.1% |
Data taken from international moves through Compare My Move
“Spain has continued being the most popular place for Brits to move to, with 15% of all British international movers in 2024 moving to Spain. While in 2023, the USA was in a close second to Spain, the number of movers to the USA dropped in 2023. This supports the theory that people are moving out of the UK due to political uncertainty, if people are moving for that reason then they wouldn’t move to a country where political uncertainty is also present.”
