Autumn Budget 2024

Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell Excerpts

Monday 11th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Con)]

My Lords, this is the first speech I have made in your Lordships’ House in the presence of the professor who taught me economics 101 at the London School of Economics. I suspect that the noble Lord, Lord Desai, will disagree with what I am about to say, but I put on record my profound regard and gratitude for his excellent teaching at the LSE. To coin a phrase, all errors are my own.

I want to address the number of wealth creators living here in the UK and the number choosing to move overseas. In recent years, there has been an exodus of wealth creators from the UK. Undoubtedly, the Budget will accelerate this trend. The figures are stark. The latest UBS global wealth report forecast that 17% of UK millionaires will leave the country by 2028. That is a conservative estimate. Given the Budget, especially the changes to capital gains tax, inheritance tax and stamp duty, the final figure will surely be higher than 17%. We should not kid ourselves that this is a problem facing all western economies. The UK is unique in this respect. Every other G7 country is forecast to have more millionaires in 2028 than they have today.

Why does this matter? It matters for two reasons—the amount of tax they pay and the number of jobs they create. They provide a huge tax contribution. For every top 1% taxpayer who leaves, 26 additional median taxpayers are needed to plug the gap. According to the IFS, the top 1% of earners pay around a third of income tax and the top 5% pay half of income tax. The exodus of wealth creators from the UK is generating a tax bill that will fall on the rest of us. The Government may strive to stop the additional taxes falling on working people, but who else will foot the bill?

Secondly, it matters because the individuals and families who are leaving the country create so many jobs in our economy. If the Government are serious about the laudable objective of increasing employment to 80% by helping 2 million people from welfare into work, they need entrepreneurs and investors to create those jobs. The problem is that wealth creators are heading for the exit. I am not talking hypothetically. It is happening as we speak. A recent Startup Coalition survey found that 72% of entrepreneurs are exploring leaving the UK and many have already done so.

I recently attended the GITEX conference in Dubai with more than 6,500 entrepreneurs from more than 180 countries. It was inspiring to see so many innovators enacting their ideas and creating the world of tomorrow. However, something was painfully striking: the number of young, British-born entrepreneurs who had left the UK to pursue their dreams. I asked them why they had chosen to do this, and a consistent theme was the UK’s business environment, including the level of taxation. These entrepreneurs, with their start-ups, create the vast majority of new jobs in the economy.

These are just two benefits that wealth creators bring to the country. I could list many more. There has been a spate of articles, for example, highlighting the impact of recent tax changes on the world of art, with many galleries losing some of their most generous benefactors. We should never forget the inscription at the entrance to Birmingham’s art gallery:

“By the gains of Industry we promote Art”.


I make all these points not to be a shill for millionaires but because the exodus of wealth creators will devastate ordinary working people across the UK. Entrepreneurs and investors lay the foundations for economic growth and the prosperity we all enjoy.

Two days after the general election a former Prime Minister wrote that

“we have reached the limits of traditional tax and spend to solve our problems”.

Those were not the words of Rishi Sunak or even a recycled quote from Margaret Thatcher. It was the advice given to the Government by Tony Blair. As another former Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, reputedly said: “You can’t make the poor richer by making the rich poorer”. By hitting wealth creators, entrepreneurs and family businesses, this Budget risks decimating the very people we need to create jobs and pay tax for generations to come. All our livelihoods, especially those of working people, depend on them.