Picture this: London's glittering skyline, once a magnet for moguls and millionaires, now a ghost town for the gilded elite. Private jets hum toward Dubai, Milan rentals skyrocket, and Ryanair's own Michael O'Leary, never one to mince words, cackles as he declares the UK "doomed" under Labour's reign. "Rich people are fleeing... trying to find low-fare flights to get the hell out of London before Rachel Reeves taxes their mansions, their income, and inheritance." It's not hyperbole; it's exodus economics. As the Chancellor's Autumn Budget looms on November 26, whispers of a "mansion tax" and "exit tax" have turned murmurs into a stampede. The wealthy aren't just packing bags, they're torching bridges, taking £66 billion in assets with them. Labour promised growth; instead, they're engineering a brain-and-bucks drain that could capsize the economy.This isn't just class warfare — it's economic suicide!
O'Leary's broadside isn't sour grapes from a budget airline baron; it's a siren from the front lines. Ryanair just posted a jaw-dropping €2.54 billion pre-tax profit for the half-year to September, up 42% year-on-year, fuelled by 119 million passengers (a 3% bump) and fares spiking 13% to €58. Yet even as his coffers overflow, O'Leary's torching Reeves: "She hasn't a rashers how to deliver growth. She puts up employment taxes, puts up APD [Air Passenger Duty]." APD's latest hike? A "dumbest idea" that's taxing flights at nearly 33% of Ryanair's average fare, choking regional airports like Manchester and Edinburgh. Threaten another rise, and O'Leary vows to yank 10% of capacity, five million seats, to tax havens like Sweden or Italy.
This isn't isolated griping. A chorus of CEOs, from Marks & Spencer's Stuart Machin to Asda's Allan Leighton, echo the alarm: Labour's fiscal fetish is scaring off investment. And the Budget blueprint? A blitz on the bling: new council tax bands for £2m+ mansions (1% levy on excess value, hitting a £3m pad with £10k annually), plus an "exit tax" slapping 20% on fleeing fortunes. Reeves, eyeing a £30-50bn black hole from U-turns and sluggish growth, insists it's "fairness." But economists scoff: it'd barely dent the deficit while cratering property values and spooking founders.
Labour's war on wealth kicked off with the non-dom purge, abolishing the 225-year-old perk letting expats dodge tax on foreign earnings. April 2025: Boom. Inheritance tax now claws at global assets after 10/20 years' residency, trusts be damned. The result? A "Wexit" wave: UK tops the global millionaire exit list, with 16,500 HNWIs projected to bolt in 2025, more than China or India, hauling £66bn in investable wealth. Destinations? UAE's zero-tax allure, Italy's €100k flat-fee remake, Switzerland's secrecy. Milan's luxury rents? Surging on the spillover.
Advisors report phones "ringing off the hook." WPP founder Martin Sorrell: "Friends are fleeing... inevitable given coming tax hikes." Even Nigel Farage, eyeing a Reform comeback, vows to lure them back with a £250k "Robin Hood" fee for tax shields. Critics like Tax Justice Network call it a "myth," only 0.6% of millionaires dipping out. But data disagrees: Non-dom registrations plummeted 10% post-reform, and OBR's £3.2bn windfall? Slashed to £1bn as dodgers outpace collectors.
This isn't just yachts sailing off; it's innovation's lifeblood. Tech founders, City traders, creative tycoons, these are the risk-takers fuelling 22% of GDP via tourism alone. Tax them into exile, and watch startups starve, FDI freeze, and growth grind to 0.6% (G7's "strongest," sure, but France laps us at 1.2%).
Reeves inherited a mess, £22bn "black hole" from Tory fumbles, but her fix? A sledgehammer labelled "fairness." Promises of no tax hikes on "working people"? Out the window, with NI employer bumps and pension raids looming. Even Mervyn King, her old BoE boss, blasts the incoherence: "You don't solve [problems] by just adding another wealth tax." O'Leary nails it: Growth comes from "selective tax cuts," not barriers. Tax tourists after they land, not at the gate.
The irony? As Ryanair thrives on cheap seats to sunnier climes, Labour's policies hand competitors the keys. Sweden? Booming on low APD. Italy? Luring tycoons with flat taxes. Britain's "peripheral island" edge? Blunted by self-inflicted wounds.
No one's weeping for untaxed oligarchs, but this scorched-earth approach torches everyone. Reeves: Pivot. Slash APD for regions, lure talent with incentives, reform welfare without U-turns. Farage's "bring 'em back" ploy? Crude, but points to poaching, not punishing. And O'Leary? Keep the profits domestic, cut fares, not flights.
Britain's not doomed yet. But if Labour keeps firing torpedoes at its own hull, the wealthy won't be the only ones swimming for shore. The rest of us will follow.