Once globally renowned as the "billionaires' playground", London is increasingly being abandoned by ultra-high net worth individuals, according to a report in The Guardian.
This weekend, one of the UK's richest people, David Reuben, was revealed to have left for the tax haven of Monaco. The 88-year-old property tycoon and Newcastle United shareholder has, with his younger brother Simon, a combined estimated net worth of nearly £28bn. A spokesperson did not expand on why he left, though tax is thought to be a factor.
Reuben follows Sir Jim Ratcliffe, owner of chemicals company Ineos, who fled Britain for Monaco in 2018. Ratcliffe said he could see why rich people are leaving the UK, describing the country as "on the slide" and complaining that "the UK has got a bit of a green eye towards wealth at the moment".
Sir Peter Lampl, millionaire founder of the Sutton Trust charity, said he had moved to the US because of Sadiq Khan's traffic policies, complaining that motorists are "pariahs" in London.
Financier Ben Goldsmith, who remains in the UK, said the exodus was having a social and fiscal cost: "If I want to organise a gathering now, I have to take into account a lot of my friends are not here any more. How the hell are we supposed to pay for health services and everything if we are driving out the highest rate taxpayers?"
The complaints centre on Labour's stricter tax regime, London's low-traffic neighbourhoods, and what one departing billionaire called the antipathy of others towards extreme wealth. The Guardian reports, however, that some are unimpressed by the complaints and the warnings of economic doom that each new announced exit tends to bring.