UK losing status of haven for super rich – study

Wealthy investors and businessmen are relocating to the EU, Middle East, and Asia, according to a London consultancy

Over 1,000 millionaires left the UK in 2022, several media outlets reported on Friday, citing a study by the investment migration consultancy Henley & Partners.

According to the findings, 1,400 individuals with wealth in excess of $1 million relocated from the country last year. This comes on top of the 2,200 recorded in 2019, 2,800 in 2018 and 4,200 in 2017. The latest departures are said to continue a trend that began shortly after the Brexit vote in 2016, when the UK severed ties with the EU.

A total of around 12,000 millionaires have relocated from the UK since then, Henley & Partners estimates. Prior to the Brexit vote, the UK was registering inflows of high-net-worth individuals.

“Now that Brexit has been entrenched and the very real longer-term consequences are being felt, we have seen increased movement from wealthy UK citizens looking to claw back their EU status by obtaining an EU residence or citizenship by investment,” Stuart Wakeling, head of the London office of Henley & Partners, told The Times.

Many millionaires are also looking to the Middle East and Asia as potentially promising destinations for relocation, according to the consultancy. The United Arab Emirates, for instance, is estimated to have seen the largest inflow of millionaires last year.

A recent study by the Centre for European Reform showed that Brexit has already cost the UK’s economy some £33 billion ($40 billion). The UK’s Office for Budgetary Responsibility recently calculated that the consequences of the 2016 referendum to leave the EU will reduce the UK’s GDP by 4% over the 15-year period from 2016 to 2031, or by some £100 billion.

READ MORE: UK faces decade of lost growth – report

The UK’s Confederation of Business Industry said last month that the British economy had already fallen into a “short and shallow” recession, and is on track to shrink by 0.4% in 2023 due to high inflation and low investment.

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