
Britain Counts the Mounting Cost of Taxing Wealthy ‘Non-Doms'
As the pace of wealthy individuals leaving London quickens, the numbers are starting to stack up: Labour's flagship 'tax the rich' policy risks becoming a net drain on the UK economy.
Barely a day passes by without a big investor or entrepreneur exiting after the government abolished a two-century-old tax break for non-domiciled residents — well-heeled residents hailing from overseas. Billionaire Checkout.com founder Guillaume Pousaz and Nassef Sawiris, Egypt's richest man, are among those fleeing to European and Middle Eastern financial centers with promises of a lighter tax load, as what began as a trickle of exits quickly turns into an exodus.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'Glass building revolutionised future of offices'
One of Britain's most renowned architects said a building he designed for an insurance company revolutionised office buildings. The all-glass exterior Willis building opened in Ipswich in 1975 with a roof-top garden and swimming pool. It was one of the first buildings designed by Lord Norman Foster who is also the architect behind other buildings such as London's Gherkin and Millennium Bridge. Lord Foster recently met with superfan Nicola Drown where he shared stories of designing the building which he called a "groundscraper". "Ipswich is a market town and everybody assumed that [the] Willis [building] would end up being a tower," Lord Foster explained. "If you think about the essence of Ipswich, it's these winding streets, it's a medieval geometry, so the idea was of recreating the street by following the edge of the site and keeping a building low and respecting the horizontality. "That was really radical and it gave rise to a new kind of building that was called the groundscraper, as opposed to the skyscraper. "That was subsequently adopted by developers." Lord Foster, who recently turned 90, said he was still continuously on the go, often attending meetings and talks, including an event at the Willis building to talk about it on its 50th anniversary. Lord Foster added the building was a "complete reinterpretation of the workplace" as it was a "lifestyle building", with a roof garden and swimming pool as well as its openness and swathes of natural sunlight inside. The colour scheme inside the building is yellow and green - colours of Norwich City Football Club, rival of local team Ipswich Town, whose stadium is just across the way. Lord Foster said he "had no idea" about this when designing the building, however. Another interesting piece of the building's history included that Lord Foster was "apprehensive" about its height. He initially got his design team to draw it up as a four-storey building, despite knowing it would never be approved. BBC iPlayer: Building Sights - Zaha Hadid on the Willis building "The first thing I got [a designer] to do was two drawings of the outside of the building," he explained. "One was four-storey and one was three-storey. "The first submission that I made was for the four-storey and the reaction that I got, that I had anticipated, was that it was too big. "So we reduced it. We never intended it to be four-storey, but I remember that was a ploy at the time." Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. 'Weird, wonky building has shaped everything I do' Norman Foster's glass office building marks 50 years Norman Foster and Partners WTW: Our history
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What can Northamptonshire expect from Doge?
They have caused a stir in Donald Trump's US and now Elon Musk-style Doge teams are descending on Northamptonshire's two unitary councils, which are run by Reform UK. What can people in the county expect from them and what have they achieved elsewhere? Hardly anyone had heard the acronym Doge before Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025. The idea is reported to have surfaced first at a dinner party where Donald Trump's billionaire advisor, Elon Musk, was speaking in 2023. The Tesla, Space X and X businessman told fellow diners that, if given the passwords to government computers, he could streamline its operations. When Trump became President again this year, he set up the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) and put Musk in charge of it. Its aim was to end the "tyranny of bureaucracy", save taxpayers' money and cut the US national debt, said Musk. What has actually happened so far is two million federal workers being offered a deal to leave. A preliminary meeting with the Doge team happened this week at West Northamptonshire Council, and it will be descending on North Northamptonshire in the near future following the huge swing from the Conservatives to Reform UK in the May local elections. The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, who received a hero's welcome when he met his councillors in Corby on Tuesday, explained how it would work. "The Doge team comes in and it talks to the officers and says 'we want to look at the books, we want to see what money's been spent on this, what money's been spent on that, we want to see the credit card statements, we want to see the contracts'," he said. He took repairing potholes as an example and said Doge would ask "Who've you assigned to do this job? How long is the contract for? What's the cost? Is it based on results?" He insisted that "not everything about Doge is critical, not everything about Doge is slagging off what's gone before. I'm really hoping that Doge can help everybody". Reform UK said its team in West Northamptonshire would consist of "software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors". The short answer, according to Reform UK, is nothing. Mark Arnull, leader at West Northamptonshire, said: "The cutting-edge expertise the Doge team are providing free of charge will make it that much easier to identify waste and free up funds." Martin Griffiths, who leads West Northamptonshire, said: "We're not going to pay a penny [for the Doge review] so that's why our officers are fully in support of this." Some politicians have questioned whether experts would really work for free, and have suggested the pro bono element might not be good for local people. Rich Lehmann, Green party leader in Kent, the first council to undergo the process, said: "The fact that they have software engineers offering to work 'for free' is of particular concern, given that the data they are forcefully requesting access to would include significant volumes of commercially sensitive information and the personal data of many of Kent's most vulnerable residents." The leader of the Labour group on West Northamptonshire Council, Sally Keeble is concerned about the team's accountability and use of data. She has submitted a Freedom of Information request for all communication between the council and the team to be disclosed. She said: "If the Reform administration wants to appoint Doge, they should put the organisation through a transparent procurement process with safeguards in place for people's personal data." Helen Harrison, who leads the Conservative opposition in North Northamptonshire, has said she would welcome any efficiencies but believed the review should be carried out by council officers rather than an external team. Jonathan Harris, who leads the Liberal Democrat group in the North, said: "We understand that during the visit on Friday, 13 June the Doge team asked for no information, were provided with no information, didn't share a plan, and yet proclaimed that they were already 'starting to save taxpayers money'." Harris added: "It begs the question why taxpayers are paying cabinet member allowances, including basic councillor allowances of around £424,000 to the [Reform UK] administration. "It's their job to lead, set strategy and establish savings, not the responsibility of an unelected group of individuals." West Northamptonshire's Independent councillor Ian McCord said he had written to the council leader to ask whether advice had been sought about the legal standing of the Doge unit, and whether data held by the council would be safe. NIgel Farage is adamant that the Doge approach is working. He said: "Already, in other counties, we have found examples of pretty egregious expenditure." In Derby, where there is a cabinet member for council efficiency (Doge), the party claimed to have made efficiency savings equating to £6,000 per day. It later admitted that figure was a mistake and was more like £4,000 per day. An unlikely winner so far from the Doge initiative has been the public sector workers' union Unison. According to data released to Sky News, weekly new memberships increased by an average of 272% in the week after the May election results were announced. From a weekly average of 12 new members at North Northamptonshire the union saw the figure shoot up to 27 in the week following the election. Farage has admitted that efficiencies may be more difficult to find in Northamptonshire's two unitary councils, which came into being in 2021, than in some older authorities. Other politicians have pointed out that councils already face regular audits so Doge teams would simply duplicate that process. On the available evidence, though, two things look certain: Northamptonshire will go through the Doge process, and it will still be controversial. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Musk-style Doge team starts work at council Put solar on roofs not farms, says Reform leader Reform UK to give council Musk-style audit West Northamptonshire Council North Northamptonshire Council
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
New kiosk on the Cuckoo Trail moves a step closer
A new kiosk being built on the Cuckoo Trail in East Sussex has moved a step closer ahead of the works' expected completion in September. The kiosk will form part of the Horam Hub, which was given the green light by Wealden District Council in January. It will be located by the platform of the former Horam railway station on the trail, which runs along the former Cuckoo Line railway line. Ahead of completing the works, the council has invited expressions of interest to operate a concession from the new kiosk. The Horam Hub is one of a number of improvements being made to the Cuckoo Trail, which runs for 11 miles (17.7km) from Heathfield to Polegate with a three-mile (4.8km) extension to Shinewater Park in Eastbourne. WDC said the hub was a "large piece of land that offers the opportunity to meet friends and family, take a break after a long walk or cycle, and stroll around the remnants of the old Horam train station". Landscaping improvements and enhancements to the existing historical features - including the old railway platform and signs - also form part of this project. All improvements to the Cuckoo Trail are being funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, from which the council was awarded £645,000. Anyone interested in operating the kiosk must make a submission by 17:00 BST on 18 July. Follow BBC Sussex on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. South East towns awarded £20m neighbourhoods boost Wealden District Council