One of Britain<\/a>‘s richest men, who donated \u00a31m to Brexit<\/a> campaigns, says he\u2019s considering moving permanently to Australia<\/a> after delivering a damning assessment of a UK \u201cin chaos\u201d.<\/p>\n Robert<\/a> Edmiston was ranked 187th on the Sunday Times Rich List this year with an estimated wealth of \u00a3855m, after making his fortune through his IM Group <\/a>empire, which started by importing cars and later expanded into property and finance.<\/p>\n In 2011 he was made a Conservative life peer before he retired from the House of Lords four years later to focus on his evangelical charity, Christian Vision, where his donations make him one of the UK\u2019s biggest philanthropic donors. <\/p>\n The devout Christian<\/a> has also donated \u00a31m to pro-Brexit campaigns, including<\/a> \u00a3850,000 to Vote Leave through his company before the 2016 EU referendum. <\/p>\n But with his son, Andrew, taking a bigger hand in running the West Midlands-based business, Lord Edmiston told The Independent he is spending more time out of the UK, having semi-retired to Portugal in 2016 and built a property in Australia.<\/p>\n Now, he has revealed that he and his wife Lady Edmiston are considering going a step further by applying for permanent residency in Australia. He put it down to family reasons and a warmer climate, but also fired off criticism of the NHS and the country\u2019s tax system. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Edmiston\u2019s company IM Group donated \u00a3850,000 to Vote Leave, which had Boris Johnson as one of its figureheads (PA)<\/p>\n Lord Edmiston, who said he would still return to the UK, said: \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been a final decision, but my brother lives there [Australia], my sister lives there and one of my daughters lives there … and I\u2019ve got a charity base there. It\u2019s a place we\u2019ve built ourselves a nice house. So, we are basically temporary residents, and at some point, we\u2019ll probably become permanent residents.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked why he would make the move, Lord Edmiston said he liked the weather and praised the country\u2019s health service, which operates under a hybrid model where more than half of the population have private health insurance<\/a>. <\/p>\n He said: \u201cAs you get older, the health service becomes quite important and the health service is excellent in Australia.\u201d <\/p>\n Speaking earlier, while clicking his fingers, Lord Edmiston said in Australia he could get a doctor\u2019s appointment \u201clike that\u201d, followed by a blood test and a hospital appointment in under a month. The NHS waiting list for hospital treatment stood <\/a>at 6.26 million patients in March.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cWhy can\u2019t we [UK] do that? Because there\u2019s some sacred cows in there, we can\u2019t touch that. If things stay like they are forever… we\u2019re not going to be able to cope, and we\u2019re not coping.<\/p>\n \u201cHow much did they say, a number of people waiting six months to go to hospital? Or we don’t have preventive medicines in here, we have medicine that when you have an issue, then we’ll deal with it and maybe three months we’ll get to it, and maybe it’s too late. <\/p>\n \u201cI just think we\u2019ve got to stand back, because if someone comes along and says they are going to touch the NHS, well, all hell will break loose. But I think, increasingly, the public is starting to see it isn\u2019t working, it\u2019s broken.\u201d<\/p>\n Lord Edmiston also criticised the tax system in the UK. IM Group paid almost \u00a314.5m in tax on its \u00a356m profit in 2024, according to the latest accounts <\/a>published on Companies House.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Rachel Reeves will announce the autumn Budget on 26 November (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n After he said there were \u201cmultiple reasons\u201d for considering moving to Australia, he said: \u201cThe tax system here … if I think about it, let\u2019s say even my business, it just seems there\u2019s a bunch of people wanting to throw obstacles in your way all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cIt\u2019s one of those things that if you win, they tax you heavily, and you don\u2019t keep much of it. If you lose, you lose, and the whole environment has been very difficult for a number of years.\u201d<\/p>\n He earlier voiced concern over speculated tax rises<\/a> in the upcoming autumn Budget, and the November date <\/a>for the announcement, which he said was stalling his own business decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cBusiness operates on confidence,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you know that something\u2019s coming down the road, but you don\u2019t quite know what, you\u2019re not going to keep your foot on the accelerator are you? You\u2019re going to put it on the brake and wait to see if that\u2019s a train coming.\u201d <\/p>\n After also talking about the impact of electric cars and a need for office-based working, he said: \u201cThere\u2019s 101 things I think we could do, but at the moment I think we\u2019re in full panic mode where we think the only solution is tax … what it means for consumers [is] they\u2019re not going to buy as much, so it\u2019s going to be bad for industry.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Edmiston\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ca2f616c8197bc1a2b062208f930d05aY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzI4NjgzNjMx-2.26294087.jpg\")
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