‘Where’s our tax money going?’: Rio Ferdinand blasts UK’s ‘falling apart’ public services after move to Dubai

The former Manchester United and England footballer, who has recently relocated with his family to Dubai, said he loves his country, but questioned the high rate of tax.

Speaking to LBC's Tom Swarbrick, the defender said if services such as the NHS were "working perfectly well" then people "don't mind" paying tax.

"But when there's things that are falling apart and going wrong in the country, then I sit there and go, we pay towards tax and is it really going towards the things that are actually benefiting the people that live here?" Ferdinand said.

"And that's the big question that needs answering. I think a lot of us know the answer to that," he added.

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Ferdinand, who has regularly worked as a pundit since retiring, recently relocated to Dubai with his wife Kate and five children.

His summer move came after Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced £40bn of tax rises on businesses and the rich in her 2024 Budget, as charges to capital gains tax, inheritance tax and VAT on private schools were ramped up.

Explaining his decision to LBC, he said: "My family is seeing me so much more and I'm spending some quality time with them and I think that's just been a great thing for me.

"I love England and I'm a patriotic guy in that sense, but a new journey, a new chapter, something different, I think is a refreshing new chapter in my life."

Tom asked what Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer could learn from football managers Alex Ferguson and Gareth Southgate.

Ferdinand said: "I'm not going to sit and tell him what he needs to learn. I just think good leadership [is] somebody that's inclusive, that incorporates diversity within their working environment, that understands the common person's plight at times."

He said Alex Ferguson was a great manager because he knew what was going on in the lives of all his team, including the staff.

"I think it's taking care of people... and taking care of your team," he added.

Ferdinand is currently at the One Young World Summit in Munich with his foundation the Rio Ferdinand Foundation.

The foundation, that has been going for over a decade, works to get young people who have dropped out of school or who are disadvantaged, back on track with their education.

He told Tom: "That's the job of my foundation to really highlight those opportunities and highlight the workplaces that are available and then the pathway to get towards that through education.

"And I think it's not only our duty, but I think we're doing the job that the government should be doing as well, and [what] they should be really honing down and focusing on is [engaging] young people in the new world, the new industry that's coming in, in terms of tech and whatnot.

"But young people, they've got so many different interests. We focus on sport and music, entertainment and tech and these are really sticky industries that young people are interested in."

The foundation has been working with corporate groups to give young people a pathway to something after their education is finished.