When a nation’s youth sees no prospects, it signals a bleak outlook for the entire country. Rachel Reeves’s recent message seems to underline this point, and the reaction from the younger generation echoes it loudly.

The essence of the Chancellor’s Budget is clear: it places the burden on the young and hardworking to support others. This approach sends a stark message about the value, or lack thereof, placed on the contributions of the younger workforce.

Despite long-promised welfare reforms, they were ultimately cast aside to placate rebellious backbenchers. Meanwhile, the tangled web of Britain’s tax system remains untouched, continuing to drain the earnings of diligent workers to benefit those whose lifestyles they inadvertently support.

Reeves’s presentation seemed perfectly timed for the pantomime season, a performance reminiscent of a Robin Hood story in reverse.

“Surely not!” you might think. But indeed, she did.

In true pantomime fashion, where audience reactions are as crucial as the performance itself, the Chancellor’s apparent disregard for the taxpaying populace was promptly followed by reports of those very workers planning their departure, passports in hand.

On the face of it, a report from the Office for National Statistics appears to show the government finally getting immigration under control, with the number of migrants falling from more than 900,000 in 2023 to just over 200,000 earlier this year.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ budget was skewed towards benefit claimants

Not so fast, though. Those are net numbers. Gross immigration this year was a little under 900,000 compared to 1.5million in 2023. So the influx is down significantly, but not by the 80 per cent the net figures would seem to suggest.

So, what happened?

A number of things, among them emigration. Where 540,000 left the UK for a new life elsewhere in 2023, by this year that figure had risen to 690,000.

That increase, by more than a quarter, is trying to tell us something. Honestly, it’s yelling at us while waving its arms.

Much of this emigrating is being done by one age group: 16 to 35-year-olds. Among this cohort, the number coming to live here is far outstripped by those booking a flight for a fresh start.

The young – those who do the work, pay the taxes and have the children – are leaving. If this doesn’t ring alarm bells for the political class, they need a better alarm.

I’ve lost count of the number of people who have told me, over the past 18 months or so, that their younger brothers or their daughters or their grandchildren have emigrated. Most of them to the Gulf states or Down Under. 

These include medics, teachers, labourers, entrepreneurs and scientists.

Skilled workers and those with jobs are being hit by punishing taxes

We are witnessing a skills exodus, a drain of not only brains but brawn, pluck, ambition and talent. Every young person who flees is more than just a data point: they represent skills and opportunities lost to us.

The brickies bound for Melbourne and the nurses for Wellington, the engineers relocating to Dubai and the financiers to Singapore – each inflicts a double loss, for not only will those who rely on their services be hit immediately by delays and disruptions (to project launches, supply chains, diagnosis and treatment) but there will be a follow-up cost to their industries recruiting and training replacements.

Some will gripe that these folk were educated and trained here, with their university fees covered if they were in Scotland, and there’s an ingratitude to rushing for the emergency exit when times get tough.

This is entirely the wrong way to look at it. 

Younger millennials and Gen Z want nothing more than jobs that allow them to afford a home, start a family, send their kids to a good local school, be able to see a GP when they need to, and have safe streets to walk on.

Britain is no longer able to guarantee living standards that were considered basic at the turn of the century. The problem is not with young people’s expectations but with a country that is fundamentally broken.

Britain no longer works, at least not for workers, and it is not only rational but advisable for young Britons with ability and ambition to get out while they still can. 

This country doesn’t appreciate them but others will welcome them with open arms.

Other countries, such as Australia, would welcome skilled workers with open arms

It’s not just about taxes. The entire British economy is structured to punish growth and inhibit development.

Want to build houses or essential infrastructure in a country in desperate need of both? Prepare to spend the better part of a decade in the circle of Hell designated for planning disputes.

Want cheap energy to heat your home and power your business? No can do. 

The best we can offer is two governments opposed to oil and gas and one also opposed to nuclear. 

Let them eat wind turbines. Want better quality, more efficient health care? It sounds an awful lot like you’re talking down Our NHS. Want improved outcomes at your children’s school? Good luck winning the unions round on that one.

Innovate? We’d rather regulate.

Take risks? Better safe than sorry.

Create wealth? Goodness, no. That leads to inequality.

It’s difficult to pull yourself up by your bootstraps in a country which has settled into its cosiest armchair for a nice snooze.

And it’s not a case of waiting for an election and a change in government. Successive governments, Tory and Labour alike, have presided over the UK’s decline and almost no one in frontline politics gives the impression of having the ideas, courage, stamina and discipline to turn things around.

Daunting

It’s sometimes said that Britain needs another Margaret Thatcher but our decline is far more daunting than anything the Iron Lady faced: the dread prospect on the horizon is that the UK becomes a Second World country, its best and brightest escaping to the advanced economies and being replaced by those fleeing the Third World in search of a better life. 

That eventuality must be fought at all costs.

If we are on the cusp of a new era of mass emigration, the societal toll will be immense. Already declining birthrates will simply collapse. 

Pillars of the welfare state such as the NHS and the state pension will quickly become unsustainable. Immigration will increase further to make up for losses in skills and population.

Grandchildren will become tiny strangers we see occasionally on Skype and the scattering of families across the globe will worsen our isolation and loneliness crises.

Even so, I couldn’t bring myself to dissuade a young person from leaving. My bitterest regret in life is not pursuing my dream of emigrating to Australia. Better to take a chance and be disappointed than stay and get stuck.

My advice to young people would be this: if you’ve got the skills, if you’ve got your health, and if you want to make something of your life, Britain is no longer the country for you. 

Pack up and go in search of new opportunities, though do so alert to the practicalities involved in moving to another country.

There is no dishonour in emigrating and no disloyalty either. If anything, it is a roundabout act of patriotism.

Britain is trapped in a doom spiral and keeps spurning opportunities to climb back out. Its young and able forced into exile in search of basic living standards might be enough to snap the nation out of its suicidal despair.

A broken social contract is costing Britain its youth. Only a new social contract, designed to serve workers, stands any chance of tempting them back.