The Great British Brain Drain: Why More People Are Leaving The UK

This article explores the UK brain drain and how net migration to Britain has changed drastically in recent years. 

We list the causes, both economic and cultural, driving this reversal and why it’s only going to get worse. We also look at the parallel issue of capital flight, which has grown steadily since Brexit and is increasing rapidly under the new government. 

Although the UK’s woes mirror those of other countries, they are compounded by additional problems which are quintessentially British. To truly understand why people are leaving the UK, it’s important to understand both. 

The Great British Bog-Off

The British are coming! The British are coming! One if by land, two if by sea!

Hang out all the lanterns you want because they’re not fussed how they arrive, the Great British Bog-Off is underway. 

It’s all a bit messy, really, more of a pushy mass exodus than an orderly queue. Which isn’t very British at all when you think about it. 

From disillusioned youth to skilled workers, weary business owners to wealthy investors (including prominent billionaires) there’s a growing sense that the UK no longer provides opportunities, and so an increasing number of people are moving outward. 

Over 257,000 people left the UK in 2024, that’s over a quarter of a million, more people than the City of Westminster – poof! –  gone just like that. And more are joining them. 

On the surface, it appears as though many of the reasons people are leaving the US and Canada also apply here, which is true at least in part. 

There are other issues, however, which compound matters, issues which are inherently British, and we’re going to explore all of them here. 

UK Brain Drain Issue 1: Immigration

As with many Western nations, immigration has become a major issue in the UK, though the focus on illegal immigration remains disproportionate.

Illegal boat crossings dropped by 29% between 2023 and 2024, with the number estimated at around 37,000 small boats. A sizeable number to be sure, but hardly the Spanish Armada. 

Meanwhile, as we’ve seen previously with the US, Canada and elsewhere, there’s another story which isn’t being covered, and that’s reverse migration.  

While the media, the public and the politicians are all obsessing over who’s coming in, nobody’s talking about who’s going out.

But they really should be. 

Net migration to the UK is down, dropping by 80% in just three years. The government are selling this to the public as a major win, eager to take the credit for it, but if they were smart, they wouldn’t be. 

Put simply, fewer people are coming to the UK legally, to work, to study, to contribute, while more Britons are giving up and seeking their fortunes elsewhere. 

This is particularly true of young people, including skilled workers and university graduates, who increasingly see life in Britain as untenable. 

Equally worrying is the exodus of high-net-worth individuals who are primarily concerned about one thing…

UK Brain Drain Issue 2: Taxes

The UK has high taxes generally. Low-wage workers are taxed 20%, the middle class 40%, while anyone earning over £125,140 has to fork over 45% of their income to the government. 

And yet, once upon a time, the UK in general, and London in particular, was a magnet for wealthy individuals, but that’s changing since the government announced the end of its non-dom tax regime. 

The UK’s non-domicile tax regime has its origins in the days of the Empire. It was designed for those whose true home (domicile) is located outside the UK. Under the regime, one needs only pay tax on their UK-sourced income. This offered massive tax incentives for HNWIs to live in the UK and made London, in particular, particularly inviting.

The government were naive enough to believe that, by abolishing the regime, they could raise more revenue, but the move has backfired as HNWIs began exiting the UK en masse. 

Did the government think they were going to stick around for the weather?

Compounding all this is the introduction of a “mansion tax” plus ongoing rumblings of new wealth taxes, spooking HNWIs further. 

(Also, your crypto? They’re coming after that too, with new regulations on crypto assets set to come into effect in October 2027.) 

While tax-the-rich policies are a sure-fire way to get votes, the economic realities are more nuanced. 

One point which is rarely raised in these conversations is the number of jobs such individuals provide. 

Aside from business operations, wealthy households employ a range of staff, cooks, cleaners, drivers, butlers, house managers, security staff – generally at higher than average rates – so if their employers move overseas, it’s reasonable to assume that many of these workers will follow.  

Our founder, Jeremy Savory, described London as the “centre of gravity” for European trade, but that centre of gravity is shifting. 

Notable billionaire defections include Revolut CEO Nikolay Storonsky and Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, both of whom left London and moved to – you guessed it – Dubai. 

By driving away the wealthy, the government risks choking out the capital flow, the lifeblood, which will cause the city of London to wither, making a bad situation worse for those who remain. 

UK Brain Drain Issue 3: Living Costs

Perhaps the biggest slap in the face is the Labour government’s income tax freeze, which will keep income tax thresholds locked in place until 2031, regardless of inflation.

What this means, in practical terms, is that, as your wages increase to meet rising living costs, the higher rates of taxation will kick in earlier, effectively punishing you for earning higher wages. 

The UK is already one of Europe’s most expensive countries, far above the continental average. 

London and the south east are some of the worst hit areas, while young people in particular are feeling the pain. Low wages, high rents, rising living costs, rising debt, especially for students… 

And now, with the tax freeze, the so-called party of the workers has told those it’s meant to serve to completely give up on trying to improve their lot in life. 

The middle class, meanwhile, are struggling to save while businesses are less competitive and less profitable thanks to Brexit. 

So regardless of class or income there is a growing sense that, if you want to improve your lot in life, you have to do it elsewhere.

UK Brain Drain Issue 4: Social Mobility

Once upon a time, all you really needed to be successful in Britain was the shirt on your back, a few quid in your pocket and a belly full of grit. 

Oh, how things have changed. 

Workers are cowed, businesses are getting throttled, the wealthy are being scared off, and the middle keeps getting squeezed. 

Working harder to get ahead isn’t an option when the government keeps moving the goalposts while rigging the tax system against you. In such an environment, any savings and investments you do have still don’t give you a sense of security. Always worried that it will be taken away from you, if not by the government, then by someone lurking in the shadows.

UK Brain Drain Issue 5: Crime

On the whole, the crime rate in the UK is actually going down. 

As with immigration, however, crime tends to be more of an emotion-driven topic, making it resistant to statistical analysis. Rather, it is an issue of perception.

The public is rarely reassured by facts and figures, particularly when fear of crime is rising. 

Britons don’t feel safe in their own country, and telling them that knife crime is down 2% won’t change the fact that they dread coming home from work late in case they’re attacked.

UK Brain Drain Issue 6: Uncertainty

From here on, we’re going to get into more specifically British problems. 

Sure, the notion of uncertainty chimes with the current Trump administration, what with all the tariffs, immigration issues and proposed changes to US citizenship law – there’s always a sense of drama. 

As a general rule, the British don’t do dramas, at least not ones without period costumes. Whenever they do try to emulate American spectacle, the results are always a bit cringey. 

That’s because, for most of its history, the UK had a reputation for being reserved and sensible to a fault, but all that went out the window with Brexit.  

The Revolving Door

The UK once had a reputation for being sensible. Since Brexit, however, the country has gone through six prime ministers in under ten years, which isn’t very sensible at all. 

First, there was David Cameron, who was genuinely blindsided by the Brexit referendum result and so promptly resigned.

Following that came Theresa May, the would-be Iron Lady with severe iron deficiency. She’s best known for her deep and insightful phrase, “Brexit means Brexit”, but her tenure is now mostly forgotten, having been shunted aside and overshadowed by her successor. 

Enter the redoubtable Boris Johnson, who always looked like he dressed himself in a wind tunnel. His equally breezy approach to office, as the country faced the twin threats of Brexit and Covid, ultimately proved his downfall, forcing his resignation in 2022.

Next came Liz Truss, who will forever be remembered for three things. Firstly, she was the last prime minister to be appointed by Queen Elizabeth II. The queen passed two days later, so Truss’s tenure will forever be associated with that mournful event.

Second, after just 17 days in office, Truss’ economic policies tanked the value of the pound, prompting yet another leadership crisis. Third, having lasted just 49 days in office, Truss will be remembered as the shortest-serving prime in history.

After Truss, we got the runner-up prize, Rishi Sunak, who, rather than focusing on practical matters, tried desperately to appear youthful and cool, which turned out as well as you might expect.  

After sporting a pair of Adidas Sambas in an interview, sales of the sneaker fell by 11%. 

True, that’s nowhere near as bad as tanking the pound (well, unless you’re an executive at Adidas UK, that is) but it’s not much of a legacy either.

After five in a row from the Tories (UK Conservative Party), voters switched back to Labour hoping to restore a sense of leadership to the country.

Instead they got Kier Starmer, the lowest-polling PM in history, who currently enjoys an abysmal 15% approval rating. 

The latest budget hardly helped. Initially leaked and officially released a month before Christmas, it has managed that rare feat of upsetting pretty much everyone, regardless of their income level, at a time when the government ought to be doing something to raise the nation’s sprits.

But then, what can you do?

UK Brain Drain Issue 7: Apathy

Despite it all, Britain retains its sense of fair play, but that, too, is currently under threat. 

On the one hand, you have those who want more benefits from society, and on the other, those who seek to be genuinely beneficial. 

In many cases, the former are rewarded while the latter face a constant uphill battle until the only logical response is, “Why bother?” 

Because if there’s one thing which has defined British politics for the past decade, it’s…

UK Brain Drain Issue 8: Incompetence

British tabloids are famous the world over for their acerbic takedowns of the famous and powerful. 

It helps that they’ve been nourished for decades by an endless stream of scandals and sleaze, served up with lashings of mind-boggling stupidity. 

Take prisons; because there’s no point telling the public that crime figures are down this year, when accidental prison releases are up 128% during the same period. 

In the past year, 262 prisoners, including thieves and sex offenders, were released from British prisons due to administrative incompetence. 

If it happened once or twice, you might think, ok, we all make mistakes, but that limit was exceeded 260 prisoners ago.

Every time it happens, the government apologises and says it won’t happen again, except it keeps happening. 

Meanwhile, the government insists everything is under control but nobody believes them.

UK Brain Drain Issue 9: Resentment

The British tabloids love it when the government fails, but they’re doubly vicious to anyone who succeeds and feel duty-bound to tear them down.

Just ask Jude Bellingham, the English soccer player who left the UK to play with Spanish club Real Madrid. 

Why? Because he knew he deserved better – the cheek!

As our founder, Jeremy Savory, points out, “Britain has a peculiar disease when it comes to achievement.”

When it comes to the public in general and the press in particular, “They’ll celebrate you when you’re struggling. But they’ll destroy you when you succeed.”

As for the government, “success is suspicious, and ambition is arrogance.”

One is expected, instead, to practice the art of false modesty, a self-sabotaging emotional straitjacket that’s as British as tea and biscuits, fish and chips and avoiding eye contact on the Tube.

UK Brain Drain Issue 10: The Blame Game

Another favourite British pastime is the blame game. It’s the perfect hedge against your own lack of success. Politicians of various stripes play too. Some blame immigrants, others blame the rich. The point is to blame anything but the ballooning state debt. 

The public voted for the Labour Party, hoping for a change of government, but nothing has changed. The country switched one set of out-of-touch leaders for another, afraid to fix the underlying structural problems for fear of losing votes. 

Better to let it rot and hope that, when it does collapse, it’s the next government’s problem. 

Fixing those problems, or even just admitting to them, would take serious courage, something which has been severely lacking in British politics of late. But with a 15% approval rating, Kier, what have you really got to lose? 

Except for the next election, which you’re going to lose anyway.  

UK Brain Drain Issue 11: The Nanny State

Kier Starmer was elected to restore a sense of fairness to British society, but he decided to ignore that mandate and has instead appointed himself as the nation’s babysitter.

With the UK now the fourth highest indebted nation on earth and tethering on the edge of a recession, the government wants a peek at your browsing history.

Now of course adult content should be regulated, but sensibly. The clue is in the name. But then, Kier doesn’t like the idea of adults, because he wants the UK to be a nation of infants. 

That’s why he’s pushing regulations on nicotine, caffeine and fast food. It’s why he’s raising rates on pubs right before Christmas, further punishing independent businesses. 

That which he can’t regulate directly, he raises taxes on, like gambling, another adult pursuit enjoyed by millions of Britons (an estimated 40% of the population).

Gambling already provides billions in taxes while providing jobs to thousands of Britons at home and abroad. It remains a much-maligned industry, however, making it an easy target for Big Government.

So how about sugar? Everyone likes sugar, right? Not Kier Starmer, who decided to extend a sugar tax imposed by his Tory predecessors. He also decided to expand it to cover more types of beverages, so now, instead of fixing the economy, we have politicians debating what does and does not constitute a milkshake.

Besides, shouldn’t controlling sugar intake be the parents’ responsibility? While the government looks after more important things like controlling stagflation? 

But then this government doesn’t trust parents to be parents, it doesn’t trust adults to be adults. Instead, Starmer wants to spend millions of pounds telling children to brush their teeth, something the nation’s adults already do for free – and with a far greater degree of insistence too.

And finally, we come to the topic of ID cards, where Big Government truly becomes Big Brother. The public views the idea of compulsory ID cards as an affront to British values with a distinctly Orwellian whiff. For that reason, the introduction of such schemes has long been seen as political suicide.

On the surface, it seems odd that Starmer should want to stick his neck out for such an unpopular policy while blindly refusing to do anything that might actually get his approval rating out of the gutter. It’s like the government has already given up, perhaps realising they’re not capable of regaining control of the economy, so they want to control you instead. 

The current crop of British politicians is rudderless, bereft of courage and refuses to take responsibility for their own failings. It’s the blame game again. 

Blame the public for not knowing what’s best for them, blame parents for giving their children too much sugar, blame immigration, blame the previous administration, blame the Trump administration, blame everyone and everything except the one thing you’re terrified of touching…

UK Brain Drain Issue 12: Brexit

It wouldn’t be surprising to hear that there’s an official book of excuses on a shelf in Downing Street listing all the reasons why the UK economy is in tatters, why British businesses continue to struggle and why the cost of living keeps rising. 

Official government reports are quick to point fingers. They’ve blamed the pandemic, subsequent supply chain disruptions, the war in Ukraine, Trump’s tariffs – everything but the obvious. 

In the US, the answer to most economic woes can be answered with the famous maxim, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

The British have a corollary to that, “it’s Brexit, you wally.”

This isn’t a jab at those who voted for it, because those voters were duped, sold on an idea which had nothing to do with the practical realities. And who could blame them? British politicians telling fibs is nothing new, but the scale of false promises surrounding the Brexit vote were unprecedented.

The new Labour government has a strong mandate to undo the damage, but refuses to face up to it.  

Furthermore, it has zero interest in trying to fix the problems which created Brexit in the first place; concerns over immigration, rising living costs, a North/South divide which is now worse than ever, not to mention the all-pervasive nihilism which has gripped the nation since.

A United Kingdom, united in a single apathetic shrug, the nation, as one, “what’s the point?”

The government refuses to address Brexit because Brexit increases helplessness. 

And the more helpless you are, the more dependent you become on the government. 

If you remove autonomy from people, two things happen. Some will happily relinquish control in exchange for comfort, benefits and an easier life. Whereas those who are driven and who, in turn, help drive the economy, start running for the exits. 

UK Brain Drain: Key Takeaways

• The UK has had six prime ministers in ten years, and the incumbent has the lowest approval rating on record.  
• The UK economy is suffering stagflation for the first time since the 1970s. 
• Net migration in the UK has dropped 80% in three years as reverse migration takes hold.
• The UK is currently suffering a brain drain – over a quarter of a million people left the UK in 2024 alone. 
• Following the cancellation of the non-dom tax regime, HNWIs began leaving the UK en masse.
• By freezing the income tax threshold relative to inflation, the Labour government is essentially punishing workers for earning more, killing any lingering hopes of upward mobility.
• Downing Street is more interested in policing your lifestyle choices and how much sugar you eat than trying to fix the economic problems wrought by Brexit. 

Apathy In The UK

It’s hard not to look at Great Britain and admit that things don’t look so great. 

From the inside looking out it’s even worse. The realisation that the country you live in no longer embodies its own national values is a tough pill to swallow, making it increasingly difficult to “keep calm and carry on.”

The history books will remember Britain as an industrious island nation, strong, individualistic and defiant. 

But in 2025, Britain’s industries are being strangled, and those who seek to better their lot in life are thwarted at every turn by a nanny state government. 

Enough. People have had enough. The choice is either to give up and stop caring, as many in the UK seem to have done, or to get out and find a better life somewhere new. 

Let’s not forget another famous historical pastime, that great tradition of British explorers, going overseas in search of fortune and glory. It’s still possible in 2025, and thousands of people are already doing so. 

There’s a whole big world of opportunity out there just waiting for you. It’s just a case of finding the place which suits your ideal lifestyle best.

Take advantage of our years of experience helping people live their best lives and let’s explore together. Contact Millionaire Migrant today to find out how. 

UK Brain Drain: FAQs

Why are so many people leaving the UK?

Aside from Europeans and other nationalities repatriating post-Brexit, the UK is also seeing a rise in British people moving abroad. This is mainly due to economic factors, namely the cost of living crisis, stagflation, lack of housing and high taxes. 

The Labour government have since compounded matters by freezing the income tax threshold relative to inflation into the 2030s, meaning workers who get salary increases will be taxed at higher rates. 

The party’s cancellation of the non-dom tax regime, meanwhile, has also resulted in a surge of wealthy individuals leaving the UK for low-tax jurisdictions like the UAE. 

Young people are also leaving in search of higher wages and more career opportunities, plus an enhanced quality of life overall. 

Where are Britons emigrating to when they leave the UK?

The three most popular destinations for Britons are Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US, though the latter has seen a decline due to concerns regarding US immigration. 

An increasing number of British expats are choosing to move to Dubai, as are high-net-worth individuals who have opted to leave the UK following the closure of the country’s non-dom tax regime. 

As for Britons moving to Europe, Portugal and Spain remain the most popular destinations for British expats, followed closely by Germany and France. 

What effect does the UK Brain Drain have on the British economy? 

The UK Brain Drain is leading to a shortage of skills in key sectors such as tech, finance, medicine and healthcare, at a time when the UK needs to boost its competitiveness while bolstering the NHS and care for an ageing population.

Traditionally, the UK could import these skills from overseas, but this has become increasingly difficult since Brexit. 

To compound matters, capital flight, which started under Brexit, accelerated once Labour took office and cancelled the non-dom taxation regime.

The latest budget, with its “mansion tax” and other taxes, combined with murmurings of a new wealth tax and crypto regulations has spooked HNWIs further, prompting an exodus from the UK in favour of tax-friendly jurisdictions like Monaco, Singapore and Dubai.