The flow of Britain’s wealthiest people to places such as Dubai needs to be reversed to avert economic decline in the UK, the populist leader Nigel Farage has stated.
With thousands of the UK’s richest leaving the country after heavier taxes were imposed, the Reform UK leader called for the introduction of a one-off payment called a “Britannia Card” to lure them back.
“I want as many high-earning people as possible living in this country and paying as much tax as they legally have to, because if the rich leave and the rich don’t pay tax, then the poorer in society will all have to pay more tax,” he said.
He took a swipe at the city’s reputation for knife crime and street thefts, saying they were a reason why the rich were departing. “In London, the capital city of Britain, you're too scared to wear a watch walking down the street,” he said.
Speaking in the City of London, Mr Farage launched a speech on the economy to prove that his party, which is still surging in opinion polls, can be trusted with the country's finances.
A central proposal was to reverse the “brain drain” of wealthy, intelligent professionals who had gone to places with less onerous taxes such as Dubai, Milan or Lisbon following a series of tax hikes that he called “a self-induced act of financial stupidity”.
It is estimated that 16,500 “very rich people will leave this country this year,” he said. More than 250,000 British people are now living in Dubai.
The UAE has been ranked the seventh-best destination for expatriates to live and work, based on the high quality of life it offers and job opportunities, according to a report by global network InterNations. It was 10th on the index last year.
Mr Farage added that a further 80,000 Britons will also depart seeking jobs and opportunities “elsewhere around the world”, adding that the “brightest, most ambitious young youngest people have simply had enough”.
He said Britain was now living through both a brain and wealth drain that needed to be reversed by drawing back the non-doms – people of non-domiciled status whose permanent home is deemed to be outside Britain, which previously allowed them to avoid paying UK tax on their foreign incomes.
The Labour government abolished the non-dom status, which has led to the departure of those who “employ a lot of people, invest in British businesses and are the biggest spenders in the country,” Mr Farage said.
“And that's why we've introduced the idea of the Britannia Card, a one-off payment for non-doms to come back, settle here and pay all the relevant tax on their UK income,” he said.
For a payment of £250,000, wealthy foreigners or British expats would be given a 10-year UK residency in exchange for favourable tax status including exemption from taxation on their foreign income or capital.
“We have to have the right people in our country, that breed of people that will take astonishing risks,” he stated. He said Britain “must encourage innovation and we must encourage ambition”.
He also said the cost of doing business in London is “simply too high” and warned against the current Labour government’s fiscal policies, which he predicted would cause an economic disaster by 2027, which would probably lead to a change of government.
The markets would force the Chancellor into “what will be a genuine austerity budget, at which point the left in the Labour Party won't buy it” and will collapse the government, he said.
The Reform leader, who has been criticised for his unfunded £90 billion programme of tax cuts at the last election, now wants to be trusted with the nation’s finances by claiming the mantle of fiscal conservatism.
He argued that if elected to govern, his party would be “the most pro-business, the most pro-entrepreneurship government that has been seen in this country in modern times”, but also accepted tax cuts would not be introduced until the national debt was reduced.
He promised sweeping deregulation, arguing the UK had “squandered” Brexit. He said the party would remove inheritance tax from family farms and family-run businesses and would “raise the thresholds at which people start to pay tax”.
If elected, Reform UK would “substantially cut the benefits bill” and “reduce the size of the public sector”, Mr Farage said. He added that all disability claims would be reassessed and “dealt with in person”.
