Is anyone else planning to leave the UK?

[AuntieMeemz]

Everything we gain, earn or get is taxed and we are not seeing the benfit we would expect from it. We have a government that is not representing all of us.
I have always taken a keen interest in current affairs, in the UK and abroad so it's not a rash decision (and i don't want to trigger a debate about my reasons for leaving). I have learned when it is time to walk away.
Even before all this, we had decided to leave the UK, but we are speeding up plans. Is anyone else doing the same?
The grass will not be greener on the other side (have lived in 3 other countries when i was younger). We will be working on line for our last couple of years before retirement.
'We' means DH, DD (18 )and DS (21). DH totally onboard. DD and DS not, so we can't just leave them.

Their cost of living is pretty steep however all my friends in NZ love it there from a social and safety point of view. They seem to have done a few things right.

Kiwis are pretty good at self promotion but safety is a bit of a swizz. Looking at crime rates, we are actually safer in terms of violent crimes/ property crimes/ road safety etc. Teen suicide rates and domestic violence rates are higher too.

But it is beautiful.

@spoonbillstretford it was a comment on a prediction of Mr Sunak on taxes and cost of living if labour got in.

People won't leave because of tories or Labour, they will leave because they have no future to look forward to, always struggling, taxed to fuck, cost of living is too high for everyone. There is no space for fun, and none of us live forever. It's a grim existence.

So much as I love it here- its my home- it doesn't seem to love me.

Do you honestly believe that rates of violent crime in the UK are reported accurately? I was mostly talking of English people who have moved there rather than what you say are "self promoting Kiwis" anyway.

I have met so few from the former colonies moving here over the last 15 years. Why is that? There was a time when you couldn't move for bumping into Australians, Kiwis, South Africans and so on. There was certainly a period when the UK was an attractive prospect but we are deluding ourselves if we think it still is.

Because the arse fell out of the exchange rate in that time, so that spending a few years in the UK to build up a nest egg and move back home is no longer possible.

NZ has actually lost a lot of their young and productive adults to migration. Albeit, mostly to Australia.

Yes, self promoting Kiwis. I think that they have a better culture of not running themselves down. That's certainly true of my Kiwi DH and his whole family.

@APTPT where are you going?

Apart from anything else it's such a childish position. "I don't like it here any more mummy. I'm going to run away!" It's the position of people who don't know how to deal with problems and don't know how to manage change or positively influence where they are. They just expect to take off a country or society and not contribute.

(Not emigration generally - for new adventures, jobs and horizons - or when things are genuinely diabolical - like antisemitism. I'm talking about the 'don't like this country no more, I'm leaving!' flounce)

Back in the 90s we used to take the piss out of celebrities who threatened to leave if Labour got in - at least Phil Collins put his money where his mouth is and went to Switzerland. Not many of us have Phil Collins style bank accounts though.

Australia. Could be NZ eventually.

@fkat I do not believe in reincarnation and do not intend to waste my one life or especially that of my children because I am worried one Mumsnetter will sneer at me for being childish. You possibly live somewhere a lot more cosseted from various social problems than we have been.

Enjoy. Agree the pointless pro Labour mn jibes don’t mean anything.

Where would you go? There seem to be problems everywhere, at least here we understand them, if you go to another random country there will just be a whole different set of problems to deal with and in many countries you won't even speak the language. And in southern Europe extreme summer heat is becoming a concern. The only place I can think of would be Canada, but I doubt I could get in and I'm sure they have plenty of problems too once you get to know it better.

I'd happily move to NZ to out-run a lot of stuff happening in the UK. I was just pointing out that safety isn't necessarily going to be one of them.

I've lived all over the world and speak quite a few languages but I've never been happier anywhere than I've been in my own country (UK). Im not leaving again. It might not be perfect but its my spiritual home.

I wasn't sneering at you. I didn't even read your posts until I got your reply. It was a general point about the OP.

Pro-Labour? Me? Doubt it.

What is it about Portugal that you like?

We' means DH, DD (18 )and DS (21). DH totally onboard. DD and DS not, so we can't just leave them.
If your kids don't want to go, what then? If they choose to stay here, settle/have kids, what will you do then?

I left the UK for Ireland in 2003 ( I am from NI but we moved to Cork) . I loved living in London, but I’d just had a baby and wanted to live in a nice house, which we couldn’t afford in London. Cork was a great place to live until the economy crashed, so we moved again to Australia. My only regret is not moving sooner, we love it here and have a great quality of life. I don’t miss the weather! We were back in the UK and Ireland for a month in August, and while it was lovely to visit our lives are better here. All the cities we visited were buzzing but expensive, and the small towns were dead, nothing but charity and vape shops! And the roads and litter were shocking!The only things I miss apart from family and friends of course are newspapers and Marks and Spencer’s food hall. But I wouldn’t swap for what we have here.

Yes, our plans are in motion and we are very sad about it. But financially it doesn’t make sense to stay here and our children have already left.

We did consider moving but not because of Reform or a hatred of the UK just because of the hatred of winter weather by DH. We did look in to Golden Visa schemes. He speaks a few languages well, whereas I only speak a bit of French. We had the opportunity when DH was headhunted to move to Australia but we didn’t go and zero regrets.

We have settled on staying here and having a 12 week holiday in warmer climes Post Christmas every year as we have retired early.

@APTPT I know a few people who are happy after moving to Oz. It's too far away for me.

I agree with you there. It's capitalism though and sadly the same in many other countries.

I guess the safety NZ posts are referring back to mine? As we’re leaving the UK to nz partly for safety reasons. We’re in a niche position of being Jewish, while NZ still has antisemitism issues, that have increased, friends who are already there have talked about feeling more relaxed/safer/wanted, and that’s the kind of safety we’re seeking. No doubt there will still be issues, and someone’s listed they have higher crime levels, but it will feel safer to us.

I was watching an episode of A Place In The Sun and the buyer said she was looking for a property which would initially be a holiday home but would become her permanent home (in Spain). I was curious as to how she could just move permanently to Spain post-Brexit.

If it wasn’t a very recent episode, that person could have been planning to take the ‘golden visa’ route to get residency via buying a ‘substantial’ property, investment etc — but the law abolishing that came into effect this past spring.

This is very concerning, and I am very sorry to hear that you feel unsafe in your own country. That shouldn't happen. I've been horrified by the increase in antisemitism in the last few years. I don't blame you.

Can I ask what % of earning is £1m? I pay nearly 35% of wages and I work my arse off too.

Very rich people at top of income pay a lot less as % income, Rishi Sunak paid a lot less % than me.