Around a year ago, I became a father. At the first midwifery appointment during my wife’s pregnancy, in one of the fluorescently-lit rooms of our local GP surgery, a midwife told us – very cheerfully – that she wouldn’t see us through to the birth. She was moving, along with ten of her colleagues, to Australia.
Needless to say, for first-time parents, this was an alarming thing to hear. The local midwifery team was quite small. Why were so many upping sticks to the new world? And how could we be sure the replacement midwives would be as talented as those leaving?
This is an increasingly familiar problem across various sectors of the British economy. Although the numbers are small, there is a definite uptick of young, skilled and talented Brits emigrating, most often to the United States, but to Australia and the Gulf too. A report last year found that 38% of British people aged 25-34 are considering moving abroad in the next five years. The reasons for this are simple and well-known: low economic growth, failing public services, a proportionally much higher cost of living and a general feeling of stagnation and malaise. London’s average rent is now £2,206 a month, an increase of 11.6% in just one year, driven by a depressingly familiar combination of planning restrictions and high migration. In these circumstances, emigration is simply a bet that another society’s future will be better than our own.
However, while some are giving up on life in Britain and leaving, another surprising trend is also emerging. I run Civic Future’s Fellowship Programme for talented people in Britain who want to enter public life, either in frontline politics, as advisers or civil servants. Many of the young people I meet – whether they work in elite roles in finance or tech, or run their own businesses, or are public servants like teachers and doctors – are increasingly motivated to get involved in politics and do something about the problems they see.
Ten years ago, most of these smart and capable, civic-minded people would have run a mile from any kind of involvement in government or politics. Quite sensibly, they intuit there is more money or prestige in starting a business or teaching in a classroom than climbing the greasy pole in Westminster. But today, many of these same young people can see that the best way to guarantee their future is not to leave the country, but to try to fix it.
In particular, for those with a science and technology background, there is a growing consensus that things can’t go on as they are. Some of them are congregating around new groups like the Society for Technological Advancement (SOTA), a grassroots movement of scientists and people working in tech whose stated aim is to drive techno-scientific progress in Britain and connect their sector better with government.
No doubt, many of them are looking with some interest at the US today, where Elon Musk, with a lot of noise and light, is taking his own unique approach to improving government by bringing in a small team of determined young engineers who are unafraid to disrupt the status quo.
But the UK also has its own – somewhat quieter – examples of success. High agency individuals who have done a ‘tour of duty’ and changed the wiring of government to respond to major challenges. Neuroscientist and former No 10 adviser James Phillips helped to set up the Advanced Research and Invention Agency; AI engineer and former No 10 adviser Nitarshan Rajkumar co-created the AI Safety Institute; Rob Murray designed and negotiated the agreement for Nato’s Defence Accelerator for the North Atlantic. These were highly talented people from outside government who simply decided they could have more impact if they moved into the system. More people are realising that such moves are possible.
Groups like SOTA know that Britain has a lot in its favour. We have a relatively liberal and open economy, the English language and many high agency young people who feel a deep attachment to their home and want it to succeed.
The people in these movements believe we can drive national renewal if we bring in talented people from outside the system. More and more scientists and technologists are considering 6- or 12-month tours of duty in government to fight to turn things around. We need to make sure our system is harnessing this reserve army of talent to do good.
British decline is triggering a fight or flight response in many of our most talented young people.
But the vibe is shifting. Those who know how to build – whether a biotech startup or a complex AI system – are now thinking about how to build in government. If they succeed, it may well be that the midwife I met and countless others will see a reason to return and build their futures here.
Applications for Civic Future’s talent programmes close on Sunday 16 March 2025
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