Almost 4,000 company directors have quit the UK since the Autumn Budget – analysis shows.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves (Image: Getty)
Thousands of company directors have fled Britain since Labour‘s tax changes in a blow to Rachel Reeves. Some 3,790 reported leaving the UK from last October’s Budget until last month, according to an analysis of Companies House filings by the Financial Times.
This is compared to 2,712 in the same period a year earlier. The United Arab Emirates is the most popular destination for company directors abandoning Britain.
The exodus comes after the Chancellor used the autumn budget to end the non-dom tax status.
Under the regime, non-doms live in the UK but have a permanent home overseas for tax purposes.
Other changes by Labour include limiting inheritance tax relief for businesses, hiking capital gains tax and increasing duties on private equity bosses.
A director of an investment firm who has recently left for Milan told the Financial Times: “People love the UK, they love the culture, the schools.
“But they are also in the business of wanting to grow their investments and the UK has created so much tax friction that it has become too uncertain and too risky to stay.”
A British private equity boss who recently left for Italy added: “The UK is now seen as less welcoming to wealth creators and there are plenty of other places they can go instead, and some are even setting up incentives to make it more attractive.”
The departures hit a monthly peak of 691 in April 2025 when the non-dom changes came into force.
This is 79% higher than April 2024 and 104% more than the same month in 2023.
A Treasury spokesperson said: “The UK remains highly attractive. Our main capital gains tax rate is lower than any other G7 European country and our new residence-based regime is simpler and more attractive than the previous one, whilst it also addresses tax system unfairness so every long-term resident pays their taxes here.”
