The Lord Mayor of London has said the government's policy towards non-dom taxpayers has driven its relationship with the City of London to a new low.

Lewis told a banquet given by the Worshipful Company of International Bankers that the policy of charging non-doms £30,000 a year to have foreign income kept tax free was causing 'real anxiety' and he made a direct plea to Alistair Darling, a guest at the dinner, to revise the policy.

'Very many people simply cannot understand why we are risking the loss of so many talented people from the UK for the sake of the possibility of a relatively paltry tax receipt by the Treasury, which it will probably never actually receive. Switzerland, Dublin, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands will welcome them and are planning accordingly,' Lewis was quoted as saying in the Daily Telegraph.

The speech was reported to have been received by loud cheers and table-banging from the assembly of City Bankers.

Further reading:

Non-dom changes will scare away rich taxpayers

City banks hit by non-dom chaos