‘You’re MAD!’ Nigel Farage baffled as GB News guest says major crisis facing Britain is a good thing

When Nigel argued that "losing rich people does not help those poorer in society, does it?", Phillips fired back: "Losing rich people who don't want to pay tax, good riddance to them I say."

The Reform UK leader responded forcefully, calling Phillips "mad" and insisting that wealthy individuals "do pay tax, a lot of tax."

Phillips remained unconvinced, stating that "£120,000 for a millionaire is not a lot of tax" and suggesting that "they all have accountants and they will all have ways of hiding" their wealth.

Nigel countered that the £120,000 figure referred only to income tax, explaining: "Once you have non-dom status, you pay the same tax on UK income as everybody else."

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

• Man accuses Met of running scared after officer ‘threatened to charge him for waving Israeli flag’
• Christian shut down for preaching gospel fears 'heavy persecution' as 'police NOT going for others'
• Sadiq Khan’s mask has finally slipped — why hasn't Reform called it out? I'm shocked - Susan Hall

The debate intensified when Phillips claimed wealthy individuals could "pick up what used to be a leading newspaper in this country and every day it tells you how to shield your investment."

Nigel warned of severe consequences for tax avoidance: "And if you get it wrong, you will end up in big, big trouble and end up in prison."

He expressed alarm at the prospect of a brain drain, stating: "There are young people heading off to Australia and goodness knows where else."

The Reform UK leader added: "Athens is after their business, Lisbon is after their business, we are shooting ourselves in the foot."

A new report has revealed the scale of Britain's millionaire exodus, with the country set to lose an unprecedented 16,500 high-net-worth individuals in 2025.

The Henley Private Wealth Migration Report predicts Britain will lose twice as many millionaires as China and ten times more than Russia this year.

Dr Juerg Steffen, Henley & Partners' chief executive, described Britain as "a cautionary tale in this new era of wealth migration."

Those leaving the UK this year collectively hold an estimated £66 billion in investable assets including stocks and real estate.

The study analyses migration trends among people with liquid assets exceeding $1 million (£740,000).

This follows what Dr Steffen called "an already record-breaking year in 2024, when 10,800 affluent residents departed in search of greener pastures."

The exodus has been accelerated by Labour's tax changes, including plans to levy inheritance tax on wealthy foreigners' global assets.

Dr Steffen noted that this policy "triggered a sharp escalation, pushing net millionaire departures into double digits for the first time."

The scale of departures has reportedly prompted Chancellor Rachel Reeves to consider a U-turn on the decision to tax non-doms' inheritance at 40 per cent on their global assets.

Reform UK, currently leading Labour by nine points in the latest YouGov poll, has proposed a "Britannia Card" scheme.

The initiative would allow non-doms to pay a one-off £250,000 fee to shield their global earnings from tax, with proceeds directed to the poorest 10 per cent of UK earners.