Continued crack down on non-doms will lead to fiscal disaster for UK

As more non-doms and HNWIs continue to leave the UK, including Egyptian billionaire and Aston Villa co-owner Nassef Sawiris, Jonathan Riley, Head of Private Client and Partner at Fladgate, comments on the trend and what it means for the UK’s economy:

“We have seen a direct and almost immediate correlation between the Labour Government’s October 2024 Budget and an increase in the number of clients leaving the UK, especially in the lead up to 6 April 2025 when many of the tax changes came into force. We are in the age of the ‘global citizen’ and, they locate their business and personal affairs in the place that suits them best. In view of the options available, it is not surprising that many have concluded this is not the UK.

Advisers in the legal, tax, and finance professions are not only seeing clients quitting the UK but they are taking their business, ideas and industry with them and not being replaced by arrivers. It will be interesting to understand how the tax receipts achieved from this new policy compare against the financial model on which it is based; it is difficult to see how the outcome for the UK will be anything other than a fiscal disaster.  As a country we are completely out of step with other jurisdictions who welcome with incentives the arrival of wealthy business developers and employers. At some point, the questions should be asked ‘why?’. 

Those moving are not just those classified as ‘non-doms’ – but in addition, families who were all born in the UK and who have lived in the UK throughout their lives are leaving – and taking their business with them.  Since Covid in particular many people are highly mobile; these tax changes have tested that mobility and the result is that they are moving out.”