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one of BritainThe richest man who donated £1 million Brexit campaign, says he is considering moving permanently Australia After giving a damning assessment of Britain “in chaos”.
God Edmiston was ranked 187th in the Sunday Times Rich List this year with an estimated wealth of £855 million. IM Group The empire, which began with the import of cars and later expanded into property and finance.
He was made a Conservative life peer in 2011, before retiring from the House of Lords after four years to focus on his evangelical charity, Christian Vision, where his donations made him one of the UK’s largest charitable donors.
devout Christian Has also donated £1 million to pro-Brexit campaigns, Involved £850,000 to Vote Leave through his company ahead of the 2016 EU referendum.
But Lord Edmiston revealed his son Andrew has taken a greater hand in running the West Midlands-based business Independent He has been spending more time outside the UK, semi-retiring in 2016 and moving to Portugal and building a property in Australia.
Now, he has revealed that he and his wife Lady Edmiston are considering taking a step further by applying for permanent residency in Australia. He cited family reasons and the warm atmosphere, but also criticized the NHS and the country’s tax system.
Lord Edmiston, who said he would still return to the UK, said: “It’s not a final decision, but my brother lives there [Australia]My sister lives there and one of my daughters lives there… and I’ve got a charity base there. This is a place where we have made a good home for ourselves. So, we are basically temporary residents, and at some point, we will probably become permanent residents.”
Asked why he would take the step, Lord Edmiston said he liked the weather and praised the country’s health service, which operates under a hybrid model with more than half the population living in isolation. have private health insurance,
He said: “As you get older, healthcare becomes quite important and healthcare in Australia is excellent.”
Speaking earlier, snapping his fingers, Lord Edmiston said that in Australia he could get a doctor’s appointment “like this”, followed by a blood test and a hospital appointment within a month. NHS waiting list for hospital treatment stood 6.25 million patients in March.
He said: “Why can’t we [UK] Do that? Since there are some sacred cows there, we can’t touch it. If things always remain like this… then we will not be able to cope and we are not able to cope with it.
“How much he said, many people are waiting six months to go to the hospital? Or we don’t have preventive medicines here, we have medicine that when you have a problem, we will deal with it and maybe by three months we will get to it, and maybe it will be too late.
“I think we have to push back, because if someone comes along and says they’re going to touch the NHS, it’s all going to be messed up. But I think, increasingly, the public are starting to see that it’s not working, it’s broken.”
Lord Edmiston also criticized the tax system in Britain. IM Group paid almost £14.5m in tax on its £56m profit in 2024, according to latest accounts Published at Companies House.
After saying there were “many reasons” to consider moving to Australia, he added: “The tax system here… If I think about it, even thinking about my business, it feels like there’s a bunch of people who want to put obstacles in your way all the time.”
He added: “It’s one of those things that if you win, they tax you heavily, and you don’t keep much of it. If you lose, you lose, and the whole environment has been very difficult for many years.”
He had earlier expressed concern about this estimated tax increase in the upcoming autumn budget, and november date to the announcement, which he said was hindering his own business decisions.
“Business runs on trust,” he said. “If you knew something was coming down the road, but you didn’t know what was happening, wouldn’t you keep your foot on the accelerator? You’d put it on the brake and wait to see if a train was coming.”
After also talking about the impact of electric cars and the need for office-based working, he said: “I think there are 101 things we can do, but at the moment I think we’re in a state of complete panic where we think the only solution is a tax… What does this mean for consumers? [is] They won’t buy as much, so it will be bad for the industry.”
According to pollFor many, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party is the answer.
Asked whether he would consider switching allegiance, he said: “I don’t really want to get into the political element because I’m quite loyal but I have to accept that. [Conservatives] Didn’t work out well last time, and I don’t think we deserved to win individually, and we have a bad habit of stabbing ourselves in the back.
“Having said that, I think that’s what’s happening with Labor too… I think the country is in chaos.”