Brain drain: why talented young Brits are leaving UK

Our best and brightest are heading overseas in their droves, as the cost of living, crime and poorly paid jobs take a toll. Helen Coffey speaks to those who have left to find out more

- Helen Coffey

"I was paying tens of thousands of pounds in tax - and then your phone ends up getting stolen out of your hand in the street.

What am I paying all that tax for?" Ray Amjad, 24, poses this rhetorical question from the one-bedroom apartment he's currently renting in Japan. He's lived there for eight months, ever since concluding that he was on a hiding to nothing in the UK.

Amjad could epitomise the “brain drain” that has plagued the nation over the past year – a term referring to the mass exodus of young, talented Brits who are abandoning the UK to live abroad. A Cambridge graduate originally hailing from Manchester, Amjad secured a well-paid job after university before going travelling. But visiting other countries opened his eyes to what he saw as the failings of his native one: petty crime, train strikes, overpriced accommodation, crumbling public services and, of course, “miserable” weather.

“I travelled to around 20 different countries and I thought, ‘Wow, the UK could be a lot better!’” he tells me. “I ended up meeting other people on those travels, who left the UK 15 or 20 years ago, and they were telling me about their life overseas. And then I met lots of young people in the UK who were planning on leaving.” He thought maybe he should join them.

He’s not alone. Around six months ago, a new trend popped up on social media: people began posting TikTok and YouTube content with titles like “Why I’m leaving the UK”. Kate Barr, the 29-year-old behind the YouTube channel EduKate, was one such emigration advocate, uploading an eloquent, emotive video called “THE UK IS DYING AND I NEED TO VENT”. In the accompanying caption, she wrote: “I recommend leaving the UK in 2025. It's a very stressful place to live and I predict this is just the beginning. You only get one shot at life and I'm not spending it working for barely any money helping other people become millionaires. Fuck that!”