Lord Stephen Carter, the CEO of global events company Informa and former top Labour adviser, has joined the exodus of business figures from the UK, becoming resident in the United Arab Emirates.

He is the latest in a series of wealthy individuals to have left the UK for overseas residency, with many citing the punishing tax regime under Labour.

Informa told EW: “Informa has gown four-fold over the last decade, becoming an increasingly international business. The operating management are spending their time where the market is and where the growth is.”

The Middle East is a key growth market Informa and the UK home market today represents less than five per cent of the company’s revenues, compared with 43% in North America and 36% in India, the Middle East and Asia. There is increased speculation the company may shift its listing to New York.

Informa chief operating officer Patrick Martell has moved to New York temporarily and Gary Nugent, another top executive, has relocated to Boston, according to the FT report.

Bloomberg analysis has claimed that more than 4,400 directors of UK businesses have left the country since Labour came to power, which some have attributed to the scrapping of non-dom status.

Lord Carter retired from the House of Lords in March and The Daily Telegraph, reported that the expansion and growth of Informa had “increasingly prevented” him from attending and contributing in the House. Lord Carter was appointed to the House by Gordon Brown in 2008 in order to serve as a minister in the Labour government.

Thousands of UK company directors are reported to be leaving the UK with the budget deficit rising and the tax net widening. FinTech magnate Nik Storonsky of Revolut is another believed to have shifted his residency to the UAE in recent weeks, with other prominent business leavers including Bhati Mittal and shipping magnate John Fredriksen who told a Norwegian newspaper that Britain had “gone to hell”.

Source: www.exhibitionworld.co.uk