Rachel Reeves likes to present herself as a friend of the global elite, rubbing shoulders with finance ministers in Washington and posting pictures online meeting Wall Street billionaires. But behind the facade, a storm is brewing at home over the Government’s change to non-dom tax rules on these financial masters of the universe, who help fuel a disproportionate amount of UK tax receipts. Fresh figures this week showed that the British Government is having to borrow more than expected, as tax income typically paid by the wealthiest has disappointed since the start of the year.

Lower capital gains taxes, levies on self-assessed income and a weak growth in financial services bonuses have also contributed to the dire picture for Reeves. The list of wealthy non-doms and British business owners fleeing the UK is also growing longer by the day, with places such as Dubai, Italy and Greece mopping up Britain’s richest émigrés. Last week, Richard Gnodde, Goldman Sachs’ most senior banker outside the US, and British billionaire brothers Ian and Richard Livingstone became the latest to shift their tax domicile outside the UK.

They join Egypt’s richest man, Nassef Sawiris, who co-owns Aston Villa Football Club. Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, whose family is worth £15bn, is expected to follow.