An award-winning builder hailed as Britain's best tradesperson is quitting the UK for Switzerland - and has blamed Labour's Budget tax raids for tipping him over the edge into moving.

Martin Daly, 30, who runs Motherwell-based MD Builders, told the Daily Mail hikes in employers' National Insurance contributions, too little funding for apprenticeships and too much red tape were among the key factors.

He revealed he will be among the latest in an exodus of successful businesspeople criticising the Labour Government for prompting them to head overseas instead.

Mr Daly was crowned just four months ago as Screwfix Top Tradesperson for 2025, hailed for his 'unwavering passion and an extraordinary commitment to going above and beyond'.

He began his career as a joiner - after having his dreams of becoming a professional footballer dashed by a double leg break - and has built his own building firm over the past five years.

He has employed a series of apprentices, with dozens emerging through the ranks before progressing on elsewhere - whether setting up their own firms or taking up opportunities abroad.

And Mr Daly fears that the Government now risks driving even more away to countries such as Switzerland as well as the United Arab Emirates or Australia where better financial incentives are on offer.

He also offered a bleak overview of life in Britain now, as part of the motivation behind his decision to make a new life in Switzerland instead.

The Chancellor's hiking of NI employer contributions in her first Budget in October 2025 was pinpointed as one key factor, along with a series of business rate rises.

Mr Daly told the Daily Mail: 'They were definitely the tipping points. I want to grow my business and help younger generations but I now just can't afford to take them on.

'Britain is not heading in a direction too great for business. I want to wake up in the morning and not see my van's been broken into and all the tools are missing.

'I want to know my taxes are going to do positive and not something negative.

'I want to go to walk at night without worrying about getting mugged and attacked. Britain has not become the place where I'd want my kids to grow up.'

Chancellor Rachel Reeves declared in her October 2024 Budget that employers would pay a 15 per cent NI rate on staff salaries exceeding £5,000 from April, rather than the previous 13.8 per cent levy on wages above £9,100.

She also said the National Living Wage, the legal minimum, would go up by 77p to £12.21 per hour.

Mr Daly told of business tax and NI rises not only meaning he can afford fewer employees, including apprentices, but there has also been a plunge in projects on offer as firms cut costs - while also 'too much red tape' increased his overheads.

When asked what he would suggest to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor if present in Downing Street, Mr Daly said: 'The complaints about not enough houses being built, not enough people - it's because you're chasing them away.

'The Government seem to be funding everything apart from actual youth and that's going to come back to bite us - but in the years ahead, there's going to be no one here.

'There needs to be more funding - Australia gives apprentices money to help them.'

Examples include Western Australia introducing a specialist visa scheme in 2023, aimed at British construction workers and offering up to £5,100 in relocation costs.

Sir Keir's Government has set a target of building 1.5million new homes by the end of the current Parliament - but there are industry fears that this will not be possible.

The number of UK construction workers fell to 2million in the third quarter of last year, the lowest for 25 years - while 35 per cent are aged over 50, 20 per cent under 30. 

Meanwhile, the Construction Industry Training Board has warned that 61,000 new workers each year would be needed to hit the 2029 housebuilding target. 

Mr Daly did add: 'It's not just the Labour government, it's all governments we've had recently.' 

He has visited Switzerland five times, for leisure purposes rather than work, but has received offers of jobs and is optimistic about more possibilities there - while also having heard encouraging reviews from colleagues who have made the move.

Mr Daly said: 'I've been thinking about this a couple of years, having always wanted to live abroad but the last couple of years have been why I really decided for it to happen.

'People may think I'm going to chase money - that's not really the case.'

Now Mr Daly hopes he and his girlfriend will be able to relocate early next year, pending the settlement of visa issues and other arrangements.

One prompt to move was an email he received from Switzerland offering a job installing kitchens, although he says there have been bids from other countries too.

In the meantime, his firm will push ahead with a new initiative going into schools and inviting youngsters in for a couple of days each week on work experience.

Mr Daly said: 'The whole apprenticeship set-up has to change.'

Figures suggest small- and medium-sized construction firms train four out of five apprentices in the industry, though build only nine per cent of the UK's homes.

Mr Daly added: 'Unless we focus more on youth, they're all going to leave. Working closely with lots coming through, many want to go - they're going to Dubai, to Australia, governments that are trying to help you.

'Why aren't we doing similar here? There needs to be funding otherwise there's going to be no one left here to do the building we need.' 

A Government spokesperson said: 'This government inherited a dire shortage of construction workers and we are determined to deliver more opportunities for young people as we work to boost construction skills.

'We’re investing £1.5billion to get hundreds of thousands of young people earning or learning including in construction through Technical Excellence Colleges, Skills Bootcamps, and new foundation apprenticeships.

'We understand this support has to extend to businesses, which is why National Insurance Contributions are not paid for employees under the age of 21 or apprentices under the age of 25.'

The Office for Budget Responsibility last year forecast there would be 305,000 new homes built a year in the UK by the end of the decade.

This would see a total of only 1.3million new homes across the entire UK from this year to 2029/30, the watchdog estimated.

It said Labour's planning reforms would only add an extra 170,000 new homes, but the Government claimed the OBR had not factored in other key changes being made.

And the Home Builders Federation wrote to the OBR last October, saying even their estimates were 'only achievable' if the Government provided help for first-time buyers to stimulate demand and reduced planned taxes on new homes that were making many sites 'unviable'.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said in response: 'We will leave no stone unturned to build the 1.5 million homes this country desperately needs and restore the dream of homeownership.

'On top of the major planning changes we have already introduced to get developers building and our huge £39billion investment in social and affordable housing, we are going further and faster to accelerate reforms and bring about the biggest era of housebuilding in our country’s history.'

Yet analysis of official figures last month revealed construction had plummeted nationwide under Labour's watch.

Every English region has seen a fall but the slowdown was worst in London, with only 4,170 new homes starting construction in the 2024-25 financial year - a 72 per cent decline from 2023-24.

Across England, just 115,700 homes were started in Labour's first year in office - a mere 39 per cent of the 300,000 a year needed to hit the Government's housing target of 1.5million by the end of this Parliament in July 2029.

The numbers were compiled by the Centre for Policy Studies thinktank, which said Labour's changes of hitting their target was 'close to zero'.

Labour has previously said it still hopes to meet its target, with construction expected to surge once the impact of its planning reforms comes into effect in the latter part of this parliament.

Just before the Christmas parliamentary recess, the Government released a new draft National Planning Policy Framework that pledges to speed up applications and make it easier for developers to get approvals.

It is set to lead to a major shake-up in the system governing development near busy railway stations.

Councils will be told to give a 'default yes' to all applications within a 15-minute walk, provided they will deliver at least 20 homes per acre.

Council planning committees will also lose the right to decide on small developments, with decisions handed over to 'expert trained planners'. 

And the new plans also water down protections for wildlife, with sites of less than half an acre exempted from existing biodiversity rules. This could be extended in some cases to sites of up to six acres.