Young people are losing faith in the UK – we must remove the barriers to their progress
3 min read
Britain faces a vote of no confidence from its youth. The latest polling from Adam Smith Insights indicates that over a quarter of 18-30 year-olds are either actively planning or have seriously considered emigrating.
For anyone familiar with the state of the UK economy, this should hardly come as a surprise. Britain’s young people face a tough deal - they are being taxed at record levels while simultaneously being squeezed out of the housing market by sky-high prices. Most have never experienced a period of sustained economic growth and real wages have remained stagnant for much of their adult lives.
Looking around them, young people don't have much faith that the situation is going to improve anytime soon. Roughly two-thirds of young people, Labour, Tory and Reform voters alike, expect that finding affordable housing in Britain will only get harder in the next five years, while fewer than one in four believe it will get easier. And half say that most people their age are struggling to make ends meet.
Patriotic sentiment among the youth is also on the decline, with fewer young people expressing a preference for British citizenship over other options. This disengagement extends to politics, reflected in alarmingly low voter turnout among young demographics, with voter turnout among 18–24-year-olds falling to just 37% in the 2024 general election.
Despite this manifold pessimism, actual youth emigration remains relatively low (for now at least), but the desire to leave in and of itself speaks volumes about the state of the nation.
While many young people merely dream of departing the UK, those with the means to do so are increasingly making that dream a reality. High-net-worth individuals are fleeing the country, driven by the abolition of non-dom tax status, sluggish growth and the threat of wealth taxes. The Adam Smith Institute projects that the UK is on track to lose a greater share of its millionaires than any other nation by the end of this Parliament.
Indeed, many talented young Brits already go abroad to fulfil their potential. The departure of entrepreneurs like Kulveer Taggar – who left for Silicon Valley to escape the UK’s high taxes and risk-averse culture, later founding a start-up that sold for $5 million–underscores how the UK is bleeding home grown talent. If Britain continues down this path of punitive taxation, emigration of top talent could become even more common.
So, what can be done? The polling offers a clear signal: tackle the barriers that block progress.
Big changes, like making it easier to build and rewarding communities that allow new homes, could make homeownership attainable again. Britain also must stop taxing ambition. Frozen tax brackets mean young workers pay more as wages rise, even if they’re not wealthy. Graduates repaying student loans lose over half their extra earnings to taxes. No wonder young Brits, and global talent, look abroad.
This transcends partisan politics; it's about restoring the fundamental promise that hard work and initiative still lead to a secure and prosperous life. Renewing under-30s’ faith in this social contract demands leadership with competence, vision, and all-too-scarce courage to break with the failed policies of the past.
Britain has reversed periods of decline before. With world-class universities, gateway to global markets and quality of life that rivals struggle to match, there’s no reason the UK can’t regain its momentum.
Great societies plant trees under whose shade they’ll never sit. We must plant those trees by enacting policies that show faith in the next generation. Their ambition is Britain’s greatest asset, but only if we give them back the freedom to pursue that ambition here.
Emma Schubart is Data and Insights Manager at the Adam Smith Institute.
