Who are the Henrys? The voters Starmer is desperate to capture

Telegraph

29-05-2025

You can hardly blame Labour for desperately trying to find new pockets of support. But going after Henrys – the 'High Earners, Not Rich Yet' – is surely a lost cause.
Reports suggest Sir Keir Starmer is preparing to pursue some of Britain's best-paid workers – young people in the top 10 per cent when it comes to their salaries but who are nonetheless left with precious little at the end of the month after taxes, childcare and lifestyle inflation. Wealth accumulation is, as a result, for now off the table.
There are some 800,000 of them in England and Wales, according to a Telegraph analysis of census data.
Unfortunately for the Prime Minister, many of them are already urbanites in constituencies that helped put the Government in power. Far from Labour gaining support, it has slipped away among these golden voters faster than in any other group.
As it languishes in the polls, it is perhaps no surprise that Labour is scrambling around for supporters it can please.
The Sunday Times reported that Sir Keir's advisers have identified Henrys as a key group – a decision perhaps driven by Labour's recent popularity with professional, urban university graduates alienated from the Tories by Brexit.
Henrys are not precisely defined in academic literature. Courtiers, a wealth manager, mentions a salary threshold of £100,000, while others claim the term applies exclusively to millennials.
As a best proxy, these could also be considered 25 to 49-year-olds on the highest rung of the socioeconomic classification of jobs – precocious chief executives, senior administrators and finance managers, lawyers and consultants.
But in a country where average house prices are fast approaching £300,000 – up 40 per cent in a decade – even a high salary cannot guarantee home ownership, the key to long-term wealth.
The latest survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found net property wealth made up the largest proportion of household wealth at 40 per cent. Henrys, however, are likely to be trapped in the private rental market.
By these metrics, London's Canary Wharf, whose residents neighbour the world's biggest banks in glass towers overlooking the Thames, is home to the greatest proportion of Henrys at one in five.
Of the electoral wards with the highest concentration of Henrys, Telegraph analysis of local-level 2024 general election results compiled by Britain Elects shows 78 per cent were won by Labour.
This approach makes this core of Henrys total 803,247 at the time of the latest census, in 2021 – just under 2 per cent of Britain's 50 million-strong working age population at the time.
While polling on what exactly Henrys want is scarce, a Reddit page dedicated to the group makes it abundantly clear what bothers them – their tax bill, the accessibility of housing and the prohibitive expense of living the way they want.
In practice, Labour has done little to win them over so far.
In 2021, the Tories fixed income tax thresholds until 2028, a decision Rachel Reeves shied away from reversing in her maiden budget last October.
Ever more workers are set to be dragged into higher tax bands over the course of this parliament as a result. Those taking in over £100,000 a year – who now number some 1.4 million across the UK – owe £3,200 more in income tax and National Insurance in 2025/26 than they did in 2015-16.
Inflation had been falling for 17 consecutive months until July last year. From a post-cost of living crisis low of 2 per cent, Labour's tax raid in April helped send it back up to 3.5 per cent.
As for housing, few have been spared from the affordability crisis. Property cost 2.5 times the annual earnings of someone on the cusp of the top 10 per cent of earners back in 2000 – this ratio has now soared to four.
Many of them live in the capital, where house prices averaged £552,000 this March – double the £271,000 figure for the wider UK. To make matters worse, the end of the stamp duty holiday has just made that first purchase £8,750 dearer.
Molly Broome, a senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said many of the Henrys could benefit from policies to tackle intergenerational unfairness.
'Lots of people have accrued wealth in the UK as a result of being homeowners, but millennials are much less likely to own their own home by the age of 30,' she said.
'Most are stuck in the private rented sector, which is the most unaffordable form of tenure. We've seen the length of time people are saving for their deposit increased.'
After the collapse of Labour's majority in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election on May 1, Sir Keir claimed his party had to 'go further and faster to deliver' on its pledges.
Four weeks later, Labour clocked the lowest polling share YouGov had recorded for the party since it began tracking voting intention in 2019, at just 21 per cent.
Polling of those belonging to the ABC1 socioeconomic group, representing the middle and upper classes, had also slumped to an all-time low of 22 per cent by the end of May.
It is among the 25 to 49s – the Henry demographic – that their standing has seen the steepest decline, down over 18 points from 44 to 25.6 per cent, according to the Telegraph's poll of polls.
In the Henry-heavy wards last summer, where more than one in 20 meet the criteria, 44.2 per cent cast their vote for Labour. Mapping the decline above on to this would see it fall to 25.7 per cent.
Ms Broome added that the Government was attempting to alleviate this problem by building more homes.
As long as these homes included a good proportion of social housing, this should reduce rents in the private sector, making it easier for Henrys to save up for a deposit.
She also called for changes to council tax, making it less regressive to ensure those with the largest homes pay more and those just starting out pay less.
Stamp duty could also be scrapped, she said, as it is a barrier to home ownership for first time buyers.
Meanwhile, child care costs rise hugely for workers who earn more than £100,000 a year as free nursery hours and tax credits are withdrawn.
'Childcare is also a big issue for older millennials, many of whom are choosing whether to work or send a child to nursery,' said Ms Broome.
'There are also cliff edges in the tax system which create perverse incentives not to earn an extra penny. Extending tapers would be one way the Government can improve the situation for these individuals.'