Steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal has snubbed Labour over their tax reforms and quits the UK for Dubai in a massive blow for Rachel Reeves.
Mittal, 75, has an estimated fortune of £15.4 billion and he is the latest billionaire to quit the UK since Labour took power.
Mittal has lived in the UK since 1995 with his wife and two children and previously donated £5 million to the Labour party when Tony Blair was the Prime Minister.
The Sunday Times reported that sources close to Mittal said he and his family are to leave to the UK before Rachel Reeves delivers her Autumn Budget on 26 November.
The Chancellor made a bug cull of the non-dom status in April, it is believed that this has also led to Mittal quitting the UK.
“It wasn’t the tax on income [or capital gains] that was the issue,” a person with knowledge of Mittal’s quitting the UK said.
“The issue was inheritance tax. Many wealthy people from overseas cannot understand why all of their assets, wherever they are in the world, should be subject to inheritance tax imposed by the UK Treasury.
“People in this situation feel they have little choice but to leave and are either sad or angry to be doing so.”
