Britain Needs More Homegrown Billionaires to Shape Big Decisions, Says Hamish McRae

A prominent UK business columnist argues that Britain needs more homegrown billionaires to steer major national decisions as the country leans into closer cooperation with US tech giants under a Technology Prosperity Deal. The piece frames the issue as a test of whether Britain can sustain economic growth by developing domestic wealth and leadership, or whether it will increasingly rely on foreign capital and influence.

In a Daily Mail column, Hamish McRae questions the details of the US-UK Technology Prosperity Deal announced during a state visit. While the prime minister described the package as the biggest investment program of its kind in British history by a country mile, the specifics remain opaque. McRae notes that the agreement could position Britain as a main European base for US high-tech firms because of language and culture, a dynamic he compares—by historical analogy—to how the 1986 Big Bang reforms helped the City of London attract US banks. He acknowledges that, if the deal accelerates growth in artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies, it would be welcome, but he cautions that the translation of these promises into tangible, wide-scale benefits remains uncertain.

McRae then argues that the UK risks becoming a client state if it simply accepts high-profile deals and tax environments that encourage wealth to relocate. He points to the broader source of funding behind these commitments: the wealth of individuals who lead the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The piece emphasizes that the vast majority of the world’s top tech fortunes are American, with nine of the top ten on the index being U.S. nationals and the lone non-American among the top ten being Bernard Arnault of LVMH. It notes that Donald Trump and his family recently joined the Bloomberg Top 500, sitting at about the 478th spot with an estimated wealth of roughly 5.75 billion pounds.

In the UK, the two richest individuals on the Bloomberg list are Sir James Dyson, ranked around 130, and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, around 177. The country, despite its status as the world’s sixth-largest economy, has only two billionaires in the top 200, a result McRae says is striking for a nation of Britain’s size and technological ambition. He questions whether the country’s tax policies are driving a broader exodus of wealth and whether policy should prioritize creating and retaining homegrown wealth that can inform and finance domestic leadership in cutting-edge fields. The implication is that without a larger pool of British billionaire decision-makers, strategic choices in technology and innovation may continue to be shaped outside the United Kingdom.

The columnist contends that Britain possesses substantial talent and that US tech giants want access to that talent and to the market. The challenge, in his view, is to craft conditions that keep pivotal decisions—along with the associated financial rewards—from migrating abroad. He argues that a more robust domestic base of wealth could help ensure that major strategic bets on AI, cybersecurity, and other critical technologies are steered from within Britain, rather than being decided from across the Atlantic. While welcoming foreign investment and collaboration, McRae stresses the need for a balanced approach that strengthens Britain’s capacity to generate, retain, and deploy wealth at home.

The article closes by acknowledging the depth of British talent and the reality that international firms view the UK as an attractive hub for innovation. It underscores a broader policy question: how to sustain national growth and technological leadership in an era of global capital flows and transnational tech giants, without ceding too much influence to foreign wealth and decision-makers. The piece suggests that cultivating homegrown billionaires could be part of a long-term strategy to ensure that the most consequential business and technology decisions remain aligned with Britain’s interests, while continuing to benefit from international partnerships and investment.