The country doesn’t just have an immigration problem – it has an emigration one

Too many Henrys are leaving the UK. 

Wages stagnating and prices rising; high earners not rich yet (Henry) are looking at the country and making the assessment that, actually, there are more welcoming shores.

Spain, Netherlands, Qatar, Australia, Dubai – these are all places that ambitious people I know have either moved to, or are looking at moving to. 

This trail of young, well-educated Britons heading for the exit should cause consternation.

Spain has digital nomad visas. Secure a skilled worker visa in the Netherlands and secure huge tax breaks. Dubai even now offers a first-time buyer scheme targeted at priced-out young Brits. Social media is filled with ad campaigns luring high-value employees abroad.

And they are taking their skills, everyday spending, tax contributions, and investment pots along with them. 

Around 28 per cent of 18-30 year-old Brits are either actively planning or have seriously considered emigrating, according to research by the Adam Smith Institute. 

Respondents overwhelmingly cited the UK’s supply-starved housing market and their generation’s financial struggles as driving their desire to move abroad.

I am a part of that generation and, let me tell you, it is a view that cuts across the political divide. The ASI’s research proves it – voters from all major parties expressed similar fears about housing and financial insecurity.

It is a generation-wide show of no confidence in the UK’s economic future.

The data is beginning to show just how much this confidence is plummeting generally. The rate at which UK taxpayers are moving abroad has more than doubled in the past three years.

The average number of P85 forms (that UK taxpayers are supposed to file when they choose to live or work abroad) submitted to HMRC per month rose from 2,500 in 2022 to as much as 5,150 per month this year. Between 2024 and 2025 it saw a rise just shy of 30 per cent.

Spiralling rises to the cost-of-living, a rapidly cooling jobs market and stagnating wages have all led to what are signs of a brain drain.

It has been a fair while since Britain has been a major source of emigres. Time has passed since the ‘Auf Wiedersehen, Pet’ generation. Now the position is shifting.

Zoom and Facetime mean you can stay in touch with loved ones. Cheap flights that are often more efficient than getting the train from one end of the country to the other mean you can take regular trips home. Remote work allows you to relocate even without changing jobs.

The people looking to this are not millionaires, but they have the potential to be in the future. They are creating wealth and they don’t need much in return from the state.

This group, when they leave, is almost disappearing without a trace as there is no dataset tracking their movement. We are most likely to see its effects through a fall in the number of new British companies and homegrown millionaires. 

(This article may focus on Henrys, but we are also seeing reports of a blue collar brain drain to Saudi Arabia stalling major UK infrastructure projects.)

For many this will stay a daydream, but both the pull and push factors are increasing.

High taxes, and those stealth wealth ones on property purchase and inherited wealth, are helping to push people out. An anti-wealth sentiment perpetuated by many in this Labour government is doing little to help. Pair this all with the underlying feeling that nothing works – whether that is transport, the housing market, childcare costs, access to doctors appointments – and there is little in this country to encourage the Henrys to use their ambition here.

Against a picture where net migration has fuelled the second-biggest population rise in 75 years, the vast numbers see huge fiscal costs; our public services and infrastructure are buckling under the strain. Draining the system that the Henrys are all paying into and taking little from.

When the Henrys tell you they are emigrating, it is difficult to argue back. It is almost a miracle the numbers aren’t higher.

It is right for efforts to be directed to dealing with the issues that emerge from immigration, but any sort of brain drain should also be forefront of politicians’ minds.