Islands gain rich people due to ‘Corbyn factor’
WEALTHY UK residents are lining up to move to Guernsey because they are so worried about Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, the Economic Development president has revealed.
Deputy Charles Parkinson said there is a surge in interest in people moving to Guernsey and Jersey because of a ‘Corbyn factor’.
‘I believe from what I’m hearing that actually there is an upturn in the level of enquiries,’ he said.
‘And I think we are going to see a bit of an exodus from the UK of high net-worth individuals. To me, somewhat surprisingly, that seems to be being driven by a Corbyn factor, because I find it hard to take Jeremy Corbyn terribly seriously. But people evidently do.
‘Both in Jersey and Guernsey we are now seeing a steady stream of enquiries from high net-worth individuals wanting to move to the islands – and I think that will be a positive trend for this year.’
A Labour Party spokesman said that they saw this as a way in which the well-off were looking to avoid income tax.
‘The use of tax havens is something this Tory government has failed to seriously clamp down on.
‘The next Labour government will introduce our tax transparency and enforcement programme, which will bring about serious measures to tackle tax avoidance, and ensure that the super-rich and giant corporations that seek to duck their responsibilities to society will pay their fair share.’
The Conservative Party office was approached for a comment but failed to respond in time for publication.
Locate Guernsey, the States agency which promotes the island as a place to live and do business, has said that 24 relocations took place in 2017 with its help, made up of nine personal relocations and 15 businesses – creating 53 new jobs.
In all, a value of £667,000 was returned to the States of Guernsey exchequer through income tax and document duty receipts as a result.
This number, combined with the value of those relocations secured in 2016, means that, after two years, £1.692m. has been received by the States.
