British billionaires have seen their wealth soar by more than a fifth during the pandemic, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List.
Inequality experts have warned of a “dangerous gap” between the richest and the poorest in society as the number of billionaires in the UK hits a new high of 171.
As the economy contracted at its fastest rate in three centuries and millions were put on taxpayer-funded leave, the number of billionaires jumped 24% and their combined wealth increased by 22%.
The group now has assets of £ 597.2million, up £ 106.5 billion from a year ago, the Sunday Times calculated.
George Dibb, head of the Center for Economic Justice at think tank IPPR, said the list provided further evidence that “the underlying structure of our economy has continued to channel wealth and power to the wealthiest in the world. society”.
“If we want to bring the whole economy back into the recovery and leave no one and nowhere behind, we have to change that,” he said.
“Societies that are so unequal are bad for everyone and policymakers need to fill this dangerous gap or people risk losing faith in our economy and democracy.”
He called for an urgent strengthening of the social safety net and more investment in the NHS.
Ukrainian-born Sir Leonard Blavatnik tops the list for the first time with a fortune of $ 23 billion.
Mr Blavatnik has interests in a range of companies, including Warner Music, which was listed in the United States last year, which saw him sell a stake of £ 1.37 billion.
Sir James Dyson returned from first to fourth on the list after his wealth rose from £ 10million to £ 16.3 billion.
Property investors and top Conservative Party donors David and Simon Reuben fell to second place after their wealth rose from £ 5.5bn to £ 21.5bn.
Rich List compiler Robert Watts said: “The global pandemic has created lucrative opportunities for many online retailers, social networking apps and computer game moguls.
“The fact that a lot of the super-rich have gotten so much richer at a time when thousands of us have buried loved ones and millions of us worried about our livelihoods makes this a very disturbing boom.”
The annual index of the country’s richest residents showed oil and media investor Mr Blavatnik saw his fortune soar from £ 7.2bn to around £ 23bn in the year hit by the pandemic.
Here are the 10 richest people in the country according to the rich list:
Sir Leonard Blavatnik – £ 23 billion
David and Simon Reuben – £ 21.46 billion
Sri and Gopi Hinduja and his family – £ 17 billion
Sir James Dyson and his family – £ 16.3 billion
Lakshmi Mittal and his family – £ 14.68 billion
Alisher Usmanov – £ 13.4 billion
Kirsten and Jorn Rausing – £ 13 billion
Roman Abramovich – £ 12.1 billion
Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho – £ 12.01 billion
Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and their family – £ 11 billion
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Source: www.independent.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-05-21 11:33:49
