I was pleased to hear most of Sir Ed Davey’s question following the PM’s statement on Monday.
I say most, because I thought he was doing well and saying the right things – until the unfair and unwarranted comments in his final sentences.
Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m not about to say that Isabel Oakeshott doesn’t deserve criticism, or indeed being brought down a peg or two; I’m absolutely all for that. However, given the seriousness of the events in the Gulf and of the consequences, it doesn’t seem to me to have been right or appropriate to make what came across as a pretty flippant comment, particularly after the sensible words he spoke before it. There’s a time and place for attacking people like her – this wasn’t it.
It’s also incorrect, though. Most people who have moved from the UK to Dubai aren’t doing it primarily to avoid paying tax. They’re not all bankers, or ‘influencers’, or ex-footballers. They’re teachers, doctors, nurses, social workers – people who have moved because they either can’t get a job in the UK or want to just enhance their own careers. After all, it was only a few weeks ago that Willie Rennie was pointing out the number of teachers who have left Scotland to go to places like Dubai because there’s no jobs at home.
He also tars all “expats” with the same brush. Most actually live in tax regimes similar to the UK and pay tax there; many may also still pay tax in the UK on unearned income. And, for what it’s worth, the British government usually does charge people for rescue flights – for example, after the attacks in Israel in 2023, the government arranged a flight from Tel Aviv but charged £300 per ticket.
The primary job of any country, and its embassies overseas, is to protect British citizens and British interests. What Ed is saying in his final question is essentially that any British citizen who lives overseas but does not pay British taxes should not expect the protection and support of the British Government. This is a statement which, frankly, I might expect from some on the extremes of British politics – but certainly not from the leader of the Liberal Democrats.
* The author is a long standing Lib Dem member who is known to the editorial team but is remaining anonymous for professional reasons.
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29 Comments
Thank you for this. Had I not been distracted by my day job today, I would have written something similar.
The problem is that when Ed attacks Isabel Oakeshott, everyone who has family or friends out there hear him attacking them and that is not ok. And those family and friends out there are absolutely terrified right now. It can’t be much fun being on the 68th floor of an apartment block, on nodding terms with missiles, when the Foreign Office advice tells you to stay low no matter how much money you have. I think our focus should be on compassion for them rather than taking a pop.
I am absolutely sure he would not want to give that impression. We are, after all, an internationalist party very comfortable with people living in various places across the world. I hope that this is an example of something just not being thought through and we see some softening of the language in the next few days.
What is also interesting is that, while some party members have supported this stance on social media, there has been much more disquiet. Some of the biggest loudmouths in the party from both left and right of the party (not naming them to protect the guilty but they know who they are and I love them all) have been united in their fuming about this.
Completely agree.
Callum Miller was good.
@Caron
I want to say that I want to thank you Caron for adding to this contribution and giving much needed moderation on this debate while still brilliantly executing the arguments. I think this is the problem when certain people in the party, whoever they are, try to speak with morality authority on the issue like this.
Too often, people from left or right have tried to make morality purity arguments on this. I think it was a miscalculation on Ed’s part and I agree with Caron on the softening of language.
At the end of the day. We are seeing people scared, and even lives turned upside down and lives lost. I have remained very silent on this as I do have strong emotions and opinions, and I think silence is the key word as you said, where is where most people are, because I got a Irainan born, UK friend who has lost contact with her family since the blackouts. She is scared what has happened to them. And a friend who was only in Dubai to see his friends not long ago. To me, this hits real.
This could have been a seperate debate but I am glad moderation has been shown here. We need to remember compassion and our universalist outlook on any human suffering.
does Ed really want to argue the principle that the only british citizens that merit protection in foreign parts are net contributors to the state…?
A lot of the expats go to the mid east and elsewhere to make money to support a more than comfortable life. That is an aspiration governing most humans, even those who remain resident in the UK and the LD should recognise aspiration in its policies. Then the desire to go is like health and education, where that provided by the state system should be good so that people don’t need to seek private or to go abroad to fulfil their aspirations.
Elsewhere it has been the normal for LDs to argue for compassion in support of people aruond the world who are in danger. So Ed need to be consistent.
Financially it is not a burden to send a chartered aircraft to repatriate UK citizens. Just add up the numbers as we might pay for a commercial flight and then understand that the cost of a chartered operation is much lower. All small beer in the budget and not worthy of a political fight on this point.
I find the term “expat” deeply offensive, and for me it has colonialist and even racist connotations.
I moved to Cyprus 10 years ago, have permanent residency status here and an application for naturalisation somewhere in the immigration Dept.’s in tray. I moved here for a better life, and also for health reasons.
So as far as I’m concerned I am immigrant, and if anyone calls me an ‘expat’ I correct them. I fail to see what the difference is between the move I made, and say a Somali who has made their home in the UK over the last 10 years.
Ed’s comments were politically cack-handed. My daughter, a lib-dem supporter, is a reception class teacher in Dubai, definitely not a tax exile. Via social media that part of Ed’s comments have been circulated, not with the rest of his comments, within Dubai and then back to the UK. So that leaves the impression that the main lib-dem concern is that we don’t support Brits working in foreign countries with low personal tax levels. It was an unbelievably stupid thing for Ed to do and I don’t know what he was thinking.
These people moved to Dubai, a repressive dictatorship in the most dangerous region on the planet in full knowledge of that and tbh why did it so they could make more money and avoid taxes. Pretending otherwise is simply dishonest. There is no shame in that choice. You could argue it is very rational. But let’s not pretend that isn’t the choice they made. Having spent a lot of time in the Middle East, they usually think they’re all very clever for having made that choice! If they want protection from the British state now then they should be expected to contribute to the British state.
Also let’s not pretend that emigrants to the UAE are teachers and nurses. They are overwhelmingly highly paid professionals. There lawyers and accountants and insurance brokers etc etc.
Right point but wrong basis.
This is not even a position of the extreme right of British politics, it the one you find on the extreme right of American politics. The “transactional state” is a Right Wing Libertarian position in the US. One where the ideas that of you are not a net taxpayer you don’t have the right to vote (53% of UK households). One where your taxes paid “buy” you the right to state help but insufficient payment leaves you out.
I assume Davy’s office is populated by a few too many “permanently online” types who can’t see more than the length of a tictoc video ahead.
Obviously, most people who move to foreign places are doing so for other opportunities rather than tax advantage. Even Dubai is now attractive due to networking opportunities that used to be London’s specialism. The lack of income tax will help Dubai create the environment to do that but there are nicer zero tax locations than Dubai of someone wanted to save money.
@ Michael
Very certain of things aren’t you. Dubai is a boring desert, if you just want to pay no tax you can go to nicer places. What makes Dubai appealing is that it currently has networking opportunity that other places don’t have. That opportunity used to be London and Before that New York. But these places have seen the networking options dry up.
A school friend worked out there for quite a while as a teacher as when they came back they could offer a different experience to what he would have had in the UK. A computer programmer I know is out there now (a job you can remote work from anywhere on the globe) because there are connections that can be made for future options.
I would also point out zero tax is often not what you expect, as higher post tax income is often absorbed by higher other costs, housing or the costs of flying home regularly to see family.
In response to @Mike Ketley i underststand where you are coming from but how do we ensure social media is ‘fair’ in reporting on what a politician has said? Every question or speech by a politician can be spliced. Criticise what Ed said, that is fine – but highlighting how some comments are being distorted on social media seems to me a step too far.
Whilst it is true that the ex-pats do not pay British taxes because they do not use British services, they should pay an insurance policy so that if they are evacuated from a country the British taxpayer doe not lose out. Since it would be unacceptable to turn someone away because they are not insured, then arguably this insurance should be compulsary. Safe countries like France may not require this policy, but other countries clearly do.
If a British passport holder needs to flee from an overseas conflict . I for one will not be wanting to check their tax code as they board the plane . Ed Davey comments were insensitive and misjudged to say the least .
I tend to agree with this stance. There is an unavoidable irony to people who have publicly criticised others for fleeing conflict finding themselves in the same situation; however, it is a bit of a cheap shot to attack their tax status now.
There is much to criticise about people who have moved abroad to escape taxes. However as the author points out, most people who move to another country pay taxes there. And evacuees already pay a fee for their flights.
Where I take issue with this piece is the argument that people have no choice but to move abroad to find work. Rather I think we should be defending the choice to work in another country as a career enhancement and cultural opportunity. A country like Dubai has a lot of moral issues, but in general we should encourage people to experience other countries and ways of life.
Also, as a dual US-UK citizen who has argued against citizenship-based taxation in other contexts I can’t in good conscience argue that the UK should adopt it now, and in such a transactional way. The UK should protect its citizens regardless of their tax status or political views. An emergency could happen anywhere and people should be able to get help.
Hang on a minute.A large number of those who now live in places like Dubai moved there for tax reasons. They didn’t want to pay taxes to the UK. Now, when they find themselves in difficulty, they expect the UK to pay for them to flee back to the UK at the UK’s expense. In this life, you can’t have it both ways. Choices have consequences and you have to live with them.
I live quite a lot of my life in Greece. Even though my income is received and taxed in the UK, I do not expect the government to bail me out if I am forced to come back to the UK at any time.
Ed may not have been as clear as he should be in what he said, but he’s quite right to raise the issue of tax exiles, who having made their choice to avoid paying UK tax can hardly expect the UK to look after them when they have taken up residence elsewhere.
Mick Taylor 5th Mar ’26 – 2:47pm:
Now, when they find themselves in difficulty, they expect the UK to pay for them to flee back to the UK at the UK’s expense.
If so, they may be due for a reality check…
‘Are British citizens charged for evacuation flights such as those from Dubai?’:
https://gemini.google.com/app
“Hang on a minute. A large number of those who now live in places like Dubai moved there for tax reasons.”
I expect most have. So Mick is making a valid point.
The issue goes beyond flights home in times of conflict. What happens if “expats” , or economic migrants, need an expensive medical procedure? Should they be allowed to return home to be treated for free on the NHS?
If expats were paying tax in the UK, in the same way that US expats are expected to then of course there’d be no problem.
I have to say, I am profoundly disappointed with the writer of this article and so many of the posters here, who seem to have forgotten the very first line of the Preamble to our constitution – “The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair free and open society …”
What on earth is fair for people who have chosen to leave this country to work elsewhere, almost always to earn substantially more than they would earn here in an economy totally built on oil revenues, and stop paying taxes to the UK, but then expect to get free evacuation paid for by the taxpayers of our country who earn much less?
Are we a party that has a substantial number of quite influential senior members who believe that rich people who chose a job overseas who pay no tax here and less tax there, fully deserve to get all the benefits that poorer people who live here have paid for through their taxes, just because they lived were born here and lived here for a while? If health insurance gets too expensive when they get old in Saudi, is it OK they just come back here for free NHS care?
Some people totally need to get off the Koolade and get real.
We are Liberal Democrats who when running councils are having to make cuts to services our children and older citizens rely on. That is where our sympathies and any spare money should be focussed.
Agree with David Evans and Mick Taylor……………. and I’m sure Isabelle Oakeshott is sharp tongued enough to defend herself.
@David: I don’t believe a UK citizen living in Saudi Arabia can simply come back for free NHS treatment (unless they move back permanently). Access to free NHS services is based on residence, not citizenship, so if you’re not resident in the UK, you won’t generally qualify (except for some special cases like A&E).
Indeed Simon,
They would have to say and probably mean they would stay permanently, but if they did would you be sanguine enough to allow them when they are old and have expensive health needs to come back and claim equal treatment with those who stayed and paid through all those high taxable income low health expenditure years? Would you be really prepared to accept they get ahead in the queue to get treatment say than you, your partner, brother, sister or whoever else you love even though they had never contributed in decades.
As a Liberal democrat who believes we should build and safeguard a fair society I wouldn’t accept it for mine, nor for yours.
Well done, Ed.
The cut-through on this is off the charts..because it goes to the heart of what patriotic duty, fairness, decency.
It’s been interesting watching the arguments develop here, but there are some incorrect points which are being repeated in the comments and need to be pointed out.
Firstly – @David Evans, I’m sorry but most of the assertions you make in your comment are just plain wrong.
The evacuations are NOT free. As I pointed out in my article, the evacuation flight from Israel in 2023 cost £300 per person. I understand that the flight which travelled from Muscat overnight last night cost £350. I’m sure someone will point out that these ticket prices are less than the normal air fare, and (in the case of Muscat) less than the corresponding British Airways flight – this is because it is priced to cover the cost of the flight, and not any additional profit, so is simply the cost of the charter divided by the number of passengers.
Secondly, those of us who live overseas DO NOT have free access to the NHS. The NHS operates on a residency-based model – which is why those living in the UK and paying taxes there but are citizens of other countries can use it, but we cannot. Nobody is arguing for this at all. If we do come back and live permanently, then there is a period for which we are charged for treatment – I’m not nearly there yet, but I think it’s up to one year. For those who end up retiring overseas, then many will have paid the taxes in that country and so either have private insurance there or will have become eligible for state healthcare.
@Peter Martin – if I return for healthcare in the UK, I get (and have been) charged for it.
@Mick Taylor – you live in Greece, presumably under the Brexit transition arrangements. This is a completely different situation to UK citizens living in the Gulf, or indeed who did not live in the EU pre-2020.
One of the primary roles of any government is to protect its citizens, regardless of where they are. We, as a country, have aided others in doing this, and provided shelter for those whose countries have failed to. It’s worth remembering that the principle of evacuating citizens in war situations goes back years, including from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore in the early years of WW2. The fact that some of those in Dubai are wealthy individuals should not make a difference here.
@FS People
“One where your taxes paid “buy” you the right to state help but insufficient payment leaves you out.”
You’re misrepresenting the objections to those UK citizens who choose to live abroad having the same, or similar, rights as those who live in the UK. It’s not so much about how much money we all pay in taxes, it is about participation and a contribution to society. No-one would notice if the ultra wealthy went on strike. We do notice if post office workers and nurses do.
No-one, so far, has mentioned voting rights. UK generously used to allow overseas residents voting rights for 15 years. Arguably it was too generous but nevertheless the limit was abolished last year!
But you are misrepresenting how things work now.
British citizens living abroad have different rights, they don’t have access to NHS treatment, they don’t have access to social security if they become unemployed, they don’t use our schools or infrastructure. They are not actually drawing on our resources.
As the article explained people flown out of a conflict zone were charged for that.
This looks a lot like a personal dislike of some people because they are perceived as gauche, which I suppose you are free to think. Just don’t think your motivations are not very transparent to the rest of us, Ed Davies delivery made sure of that.
I agree with David Evans and Ed Davey. Whether or not the UK government charges £300 or some other token sum (remember, the plane will fly out empty so the costs are high), I think it is a bit rich of people who have chosen to pay their taxes to a different country to expect us to sort out their lives if things go wrong. Since they have been paying taxes in Dubai, perhaps the Dubai government should pay for them to return to the UK? Or an entrepreneur should charter a flight and charge a commercial rate. [In contrast I have every sympathy with people stranded in Dubai because they were changing planes there, etc]. Good to see talking common sense.
@ FS People,
I’ve no dislike of anyone wanting to work or live abroad. It’s a silly thing to suggest. If you knew me you’d know I’ve done that myself.
I considered I shouldn’t have any say in what the British government did in my absence so I chose not to exercise my right to vote here. I have joint Aussie citizenship so it does seem to be rather unfair that I should have been able to vote twice. Conversely I now don’t vote in Australian elections. Neither would I expect the Aussie government to be involved if I got into trouble anywhere.
On the question of the NHS, I know of a couple who returned from the USA because they had a child who was born was a serious medical condition. I wouldn’t criticise them for that and I’d probably do the same thing myself if I thought the NHS would provide better care.
The NHS does provide this type of safety net. So it doesn’t seem that unreasonable for the UK to require all citizens to fill out a tax return in the same way that all US citizens have to if they work overseas. In most case they would be paying local taxes so wouldn’t have anything to pay. Aussie income tax was higher than in the UK!
In an ultra low tax area it would be different. So maybe something like a payment of 30% or so of the difference?
I have never regarded Ed Davey to be a cruel individual until he made these comments.
I have a 5 year old grandchild there, an innocent in this dangerous situation.
His parents, thankfully with attitudes such as these, have no expectations that the UK will come to their aid.