Why are the super-rich leaving London?

0:05Hi, I'm Suze Cooper and welcome back to The Standard Podcast. If you're new here, hit follow and give us a rating. Coming up... Headteachers are extremely angry about this. They say that this will put pupils in risk of increased violence and gang exploitation. We'll be joined by The Standards' crime correspondent, Anthony France, to hear what the removal of safer schools officers could mean for London's young people.

0:36But first, new figures show London's wealthiest residents are moving out. $11 ,300 millionaires have left the capital in the past year. That includes 18 people worth more than$100 million and two billionaires. It's one of the biggest losses of wealthy residents anywhere in the world, second only to Moscow. The numbers come from a global report tracking where the super-rich are going and why. To unpack what it all means for London, I'm joined by The Standards news reporter Bill Bowkett. Bill, what does this latest data tell us about London's status as a global wealth hub and how does it stack up against other major cities?

1:16Well, it's not looking very, very easy for London, unfortunately. So this report has found that the proportion of millionaires leaving the city is most of anywhere in the world other than Moscow, which is a pretty damning thing to see, given that obviously the Russian capital, many of the reasons for the super wealthy for leaving there is because of the sanctions that have been posed by the West amid the war in Ukraine, the illegal invasion. So to see this happen to a city like London, in many ways a financial hub for the entire world, is pretty stark. What are thought to be the reasons behind this so-called exodus?

1:53Is it down to policy changes like tax reform or is there a broader sense of uncertainty? There's many factors. So in the report, it actually shows that London lost around$11 ,000 million in just the last 12 months. So you could say that Labour, with Rachel Reeves' raid on non-domiciles and Labour's economic reset following 14 years of Tory regime, that could be partly to bring a decline in confidence. But in many ways, a lot of the effects have been happening for quite a long time. Tax rises under the Tories, the windfall tax, corporation tax. Also, the report noted a failure to recover from the 2008 recession and the coronavirus pandemic.

2:34There's also been a fall in the value of the pound, which has happened because of Liz Truss's mini-budget, as well as other sorts of economic strains. Brexit is the big one that Lisa Nandy talked about this morning. in her words because of what is feared to be restrictions on EU and UK trade after our departure from the EU in 2020. And in many ways, there's other factors as well. London's becoming a very expensive city. It's now the fourth most expensive city in the world, at least by property prices per square meter. So it's hired in Hong Kong, New York and Monaco. Many of its rivals are also doing very well.

3:12The likes of Dubai, Paris, Shanghai and Frankfurt. And part of that is because of what the report states is the dwindling importance of the London Stock Exchange. So there's many factors that could be played. I must also emphasise that the recent trade tariffs by Donald Trump haven't had an effect because this report was completed before he imposed them. So I'd say multiple factors, both in the short term as well as the long term. Well, as you've just said there, we're talking about more than 11 ,000 millionaires leaving, including centimillionaires and billionaires. What kind of impact could that have on London's economy?

3:45Absolutely huge impact of these$11 ,000 millionaires that includes 18 cent millionaires. These are individuals with a net worth of£100 million or more. So all those tax credits are going to disappear as a result. And obviously many of these millionaires and billionaires, part of their role in the UK is to provide jobs for businesses. And if they all decide to relocate, then that's going to have an effect as well. There was actually a report that was done by the Ann Smith Institute specifically into non-DOMs and found that non-DOM reforms could cost the UK more than£10 billion a year in loss economic growth, which will total something in the range of£111 billion over the next decade.

4:31so the effects of this would be massive and it's just part of this general trend of dwindling confidence in London and in the UK as a whole in terms of its significance economically. So who commissioned this study and how should we interpret their findings? Is there any reason for us to take their data with a pinch of salt? So it was conducted for the migration consultancy Henley & Partners and it was done by the intelligence firm New World Wealth and they've done many studies like these before and it seems to be very thorough as well in terms of how they define wealth so the wealth in terms of this is defined by what they say liquid investable assets so these are things like cash and bonds as well as shares but it excludes property so i think what they're saying can really be respected it's dominated the front pages it was on the front page of the times and obviously even Andy being asked to comment this morning shows the sort of significance of what's being presented here.

5:32So one final thought, despite this dip, London still has more than 215 ,000 millionaires. Is this a blip in the numbers or does this hint at a deeper long-term shift in where global wealth is going? Yeah, I think it is. The report shows the capital has lost 12 % of its wealthiest residents since 2014. And in absolute terms, London has lost more millionaires than anywhere else. About 30 ,000 departing a city over the past 10 years. This is part of a long-term trend that they even state has occurred, even with the handling of the 2008 recession and what followed from there. So you're having all these different effects from the recession to the mini budget, to all the various tax rises, to the coronavirus pandemic, to the Labour administration, that is now all culminating into these stark figures, which should cause a lot of worry, both for businesses as well as politicians.

6:31Thanks, Bill.

6:37Let's go to a break. Coming up in part two, with worries about rising youth violence and knives in schools, we hear from the Standards' Anthony France about what the decision to remove safer schools officers might mean for London's young people. See you back here shortly.

6:59Welcome back. Last week we told you how the Met Police is cutting more than 1 ,700 jobs to plug a£260 million funding gap. Now attention's turning to what those cuts could mean for schools across the capital. The removal of Safer Schools officers has prompted concern from headteachers who say they weren't consulted on the decision. And it comes at a time when serious youth violence, knife crime and drug-related incidents remain a challenge in many parts of the capital. So what role do these officers play and what happens now that they're being taken out of schools? Well, the Standards Crime correspondent Anthony France joins me now.

7:37Anthony, what are Safer Schools officers and how do they work with schools on a day-to-day basis? Yes, in schools in London there are safer school officers and what they are doing there is they are engaging with young people. Part of their job is to reduce crime and also to de-escalate any sort of peer-on-peer conflict and prevent youth being involved in gangs. So just remind us again, why is this happening? Part of the concern about removing them from schools is that Scotland Yard has been forced into substantial tough choices. There's a£260 million budget shortfall and as well as the 1 ,700 staff that are disappearing from various units, there will be 371 safer schools officers who will be transferred into neighbourhood policing.

8:28So there won't be a police presence in schools anymore. How do the schools feel about it? Headteachers are extremely angry about this. They say that this will put pupils in risk of increased violence and gang exploitation. So they've written to the Met to explain their thinking about this and they are calling for a U-turn. Well, Safer Schools officers were introduced back in 2009. What kind of impact have they had over the years? Has their presence made a measurable difference? Very much so, yeah. This is even testimony from young people themselves who say that they feel safer. if there's any criminal acts that happen on schools or if someone's trying to get coerced them into joining a gang.

9:10Knowing that a police officer is at the school helps to bring that sort of reassurance. I think Sky, who originally broke this story, they spoke to some young people. One of them said, if anything happens outside the school, you can tell the safer officer and let them know. And there was another pupil who also spoke to Sky, who said it had been a very good thing and that they'd helped young people speak to police more officers when obviously I think as we discussed last week the best place for youth engagement as far as the police is concerned is in schools rather than if they see them arresting someone on the street or arresting a family member or friend.

9:51So is this going to impact some boroughs or communities more than others then? No it's across London it would affect all boroughs and all schools but it is sad for those of us who remember the local Bobby who used to come pop into our school it's something that was always welcomed the times are changing and we've heard very much about how stretched the Met are and they've just decided that this is one thing that they cannot no longer dedicate resources to

10:22and that's the standard for all the latest news head to standard.co.uk and please do drop us a line at podcasts at standard.co.uk. This podcast returns tomorrow at four. We'll see you then.