The number of millionaires in Britain has fallen to its lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis. Rich residents are leaving not only because of policies such as high taxes and the removal of non-dom status, but also because of what James Lawson describes as a cultural hostility to wealth.

It is no secret that the wealthy and ambitious are leaving Britain. In large numbers, they are moving elsewhere. New research from the Adam Smith Institute says the number of real-terms millionaires has reached its lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis. For each millionaire who chooses to leave, or instead chooses competitors in Europe, America and the Middle East, the cost to the UK in reduced consumption and forgone investment is significant.

The impact on public services could be severe as well. Replacing the tax contribution of the average departing millionaire requires the contribution of 49 average taxpayers. With public spending at a record high and tax levels higher than at any point since the Second World War, the loss is being felt sharply. With fewer millionaires contributing to the public purse, ordinary Britons are left to pick up the tab.

But Lawson argues this exodus is no accident. In his view, Britons have simply stopped wanting to get rich. Only 19 per cent of people in the UK say it is a worthwhile endeavour, fewer than in Japan, Italy, Sweden, Spain, the US and even France. That matters because attitudes to wealth do not stay abstract for long: they shape whether people choose to build businesses, reinvest profits or move their money, time and talent elsewhere.

Britain has always been a modest country, and wealth is rarely flaunted. To many, the idea of driving along the M6 in a lime-green Lamborghini or flying from London to Southampton in a private jet would seem excessive, perhaps even un-British.

But Lawson says that cultural preference for restraint has turned into something more troubling. He argues that the country has become uncomfortable with success and more willing to tear wealth creators down than celebrate their achievements. He points to the popularity of influencers such as Gary Steveson, who he says appear to demonise millionaires. In his view, that attitude is not conducive to economic growth.

He says this cultural malaise has moved beyond social etiquette and into government, leaving its mark on the tax system. Wealth creators, he argues, are no longer seen as valuable contributors to the nation’s culture, health and prosperity. Instead, they are treated as cash cows to be squeezed until the money runs out.

One example is the campaign against non-domiciled tax status. After 200 years, Britain’s system designed to encourage wealthy individuals to invest, live and spend in the UK is gone.

Non-dom crusade will cost £111bn

Although the full effects will take years to emerge, the forecasts are stark. The OBR’s own data projects that 25 per cent of affected high earners will move elsewhere. While wealthy people forced to leave are welcomed in countries such as Italy, Spain and Greece, their loss at home will be keenly felt. According to research from the ASI, the cost to the UK economy in lost growth and consumption will reach £111bn over the next decade.

British-born risk takers, Lawson says, have also not been exempt from the anti-growth agenda. Higher minimum wage and national insurance costs, together with cuts to business rate relief, have made it harder to get a startup off the ground. And if an entrepreneur succeeds in building a saleable business, they face more taxation. Entrepreneurs’ Relief was removed and replaced with a scheme that is only half as generous, while capital gains tax rises mean less of the wealth created by businesses goes to the person who took the risk.

He says it is therefore unsurprising that 2025 saw the fewest businesses created since records began in 2017. Britain, he argues, is no longer a nation of entrepreneurs. Instead, it is a country that seeks to punish aspiration through the tax system.

Days into the new government, ministers have done little to restore confidence. Faced with a fresh letter from 120 so-called “patriotic millionaires” calling for even higher taxes on wealth, they have remained notably silent. For the wealth creators who remain in Britain, uncertainty continues.

Across Europe, Lawson says, the lesson is clear: wealth taxes do not work. In three-quarters of EU countries that introduced them in the 1990s, they were later rolled back. Governments eventually confront the reality of high implementation costs and greater capital flight, and conclude that without wealth, an economy cannot function. To ignore those lessons and adopt a similar system in Britain would be disastrous.

He says the government must change course. London is not Miami or Monte Carlo, and over the past three years economic growth has languished at roughly 1 per cent. As the path to growth remains unclear, Britain can no longer afford to treat personal wealth with contempt.

In an increasingly competitive race to attract mobile wealth creators, Lawson says Britain must be bold. The government, he argues, should be unashamedly pro-wealth, fostering a culture that celebrates success and refuses to indulge envy.

That means revisiting tax reform across the board. Restoring competitive non-dom incentives, cutting capital gains tax and easing top marginal income tax rates would, in his view, ensure enterprise is rewarded rather than punished.

The cost of inaction will be steep. If ministers fail to understand the importance of attracting and retaining those who create wealth, Lawson warns, they will discover a hard economic truth: in their rush to tax the rich, they will make the whole nation poorer.

James Lawson is chairman of the Adam Smith Institute.