UK government denies brain drain due to high tax burden
The UK government has denied that more Brits are leaving the country because of a higher tax burden.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman denied suggestions that tens of thousands of Brits were fleeing the country due to higher taxes after the Budget raised the burden by another £26bn to a historic high.
Morning Wire analysis showed that 30-year-old masters graduates earning 50 per cent above the median wage for the age bracket in 2030 will be paying around £10,000 more in tax and loan repayments than they would have been if income tax thresholds were not frozen by 2021.
The higher tax load on young professionals underscores graduates’ growing sense of frustration with the UK’s tax and welfare system, with a recent Adam Smith Institute survey showing that over a quarter of 18-30-year-olds were planning to leave the country or had considered emigrating.
Think tanks and MPs sent firing shots at the Labour government over suggestions that the country’s “brain drain” problems had exacerbated after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published bleak emigration data.
The official data body said three quarters of 232,000 British nationals leaving the country in the year to June 2025 were 25 to 44-year-olds.
When asked by Morning Wire if the data showed Brits were leaving due to the higher tax burden and lack of job opportunities, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “I don’t accept that.
“As we have said, Britain is a great place to live and do business. You have seen that in the investment from the likes of JP Morgan this morning.
“We are taking lots of action to help young people in work, whether it’s through the minimum wage or national living wage and we are backing our founders as the Chancellor said yesterday, as there are new tax breaks for companies to hire and list in the UK.
“On those migration figures, there are a variety of factors in play, which students are a part of.”
Opposition figures slam Budget taxes
Tory and Reform UK opposition figures launched attacks on the government upon hearing of the immigration numbers.
Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said the figures showed “nothing short of an exodus of young people”.
“Imagine a government being so bad that hundreds of thousands are literally fleeing yet that is what is happening.
Reform’s policy chief Zia Yusuf said: “There is no better example of Labour’s warped priorities than today’s migration figures. 693,000 people left the UK in the year to June, mainly caused by the largest exodus of people since the 1920s.
“That number is likely to increase further following the disastrous Budget yesterday.”