‘Corbygeddon’ may push super-rich out of UK

Billionaires and multimillionaires are preparing to leave the UK, taking their assets with them, should Jeremy Corbyn enter Downing Street.

Bracing for what some called “Corbygeddon,” people featured in this year’s Sunday Times Rich List, are ready to shift their businesses overseas to avoid a tax raid on their finances. The exodus may take up to £1 trillion (US$1.3 trillion) of capital from the UK, according to the newspaper.

Some of the wealthiest people in Britain have more concerns over Corbyn taking power and potential tax increases than they do Brexit, the boss of Coutts, the Queen’s bank, revealed to the outlet. The wealth advisor said he was helping clients to move their money out of the UK.

Meanwhile, tax expert Brian White told the newspaper that his business exports “people out of the UK at a fast rate.” Over the past year, he has assisted 10 people with net worth more than £500 million ($649mn), the total of more than £5 billion ($6.4bn), in leaving the country.

Alfie Best, who sits on the 450th place among the UK’s richest 1,000, won’t risk his personal wealth and would prefer to move money abroad if Corbyn becomes prime minister. The millionaire said that he would rather develop his business of luxury mobile home parks in the US and the Caribbean, but it would mean that he gives fewer jobs to the British.

The 2019 Rich List, led by London-based brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja with a net worth of £1.356 billion ($1.762bn), showed that the wealthiest people and families are sitting on record wealth of £771.3 billion ($1tn). The top 10 included three Russian businessmen, billionaire Alisher Usmanov, Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich and the founder of one of Russia’s biggest banks, Mikhail Fridman, who is a newcomer for the list.

Jeremy Corbyn's party led a ComRes poll on Saturday, which put Labour on 27 percent, followed by the Brexit Party on 20 percent followed by the Conservatives close behind on 19 percent. If elected, apart from recently touted universal basic income, Labour also plans to ask “the top 5 percent of earners” to contribute more in tax to help fund public services, while leaving tax rates for other untouched. 

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