Ed Davey slams ‘washed up footballers and tax exiles’ in Dubai seeking UK protection

Sir Ed Davey has called for “washed-up old footballers and tax exiles” in Dubai to start paying taxes to fund Britain’s Armed Forces. Over the weekend, the UK launched an operation to support at least 200,000 British nationals in the Middle East amid the growing conflict. On Monday (1 March), the Liberal Democrat leader asked Sir Keir Starmer if he agreed that British expats should start paying taxes to fund the Armed Forces. "We rightly expect our Armed Forces to protect British citizens around the world in crises like this. But that includes tax exiles like Isabel Oakeshott and washed-up old footballers who mock ordinary people who pay our taxes here.” Ms Oakeshott, a broadcaster and fiancée of Reform UK’s Richard Tice, relocated to Dubai in 2024. She told TalkTV: “I don’t really understand the point [Sir Ed] was trying to make... We may not pay as much tax as we did, but we still pay an awful lot more than the average person. “That is a complete misunderstanding of the level of contribution that is being made by many people and the tax exiles are not asking to be rescued.”