The richest 1,000 people in Britain have seen their wealth quadruple under Labour, according to The Sunday Times Rich List published today. Even under Gordon Brown’s brief premiership their fortunes have soared by 15%, just as the financial squeeze and faltering house prices have hit ordinary people.
The collective wealth of the 1,000 richest has jumped to £412 billion, up from £99 billion in 1997. Total net wealth during the same period has slightly more than doubled.
“The 11 years of Labour have been absolutely fantastic for the super-rich,” said Philip Beresford, compiler of the list. “Having a friendly Labour government has almost been better than having a Tory one; it has neutered politicians on the left.”
The wealthiest man in Britain is the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal whose fortune has rocketed to £27.7 billion, up from £19.25 billion last year, thanks to strong global demand for steel. Mittal is now the sixth richest person in the world and far ahead of any other billionaire in Britain.
He is followed by Roman Abramovich, the Russian owner of Chelsea football club, on £11.7 billion, and the Duke of Westminster on £7 billion.
The list, which includes people born or based in the UK, reveals that the native British are being overtaken by foreign billionaires. Only six of the top 20 were born in Britain.
They include Sir Philip and Lady Green, worth £4.3 billion; Earl Cadogan and family, worth £2.9 billion; Joe Lewis, the financial trader, worth £2.8 billion; and Sir Richard Branson, whose wealth has fallen by £400m to £2.7 billion.
By contrast, foreign billionaires are making London one of the global capitals for a mobile “superclass”. The highest new entry on the list is Alisher Usmanov, a tycoon with interests in mining, steel, media and banking; he is a close ally of Valdimir Putin, the former Russian president. Usmanov, worth £5.7 billion, is now the largest shareholder in Arsenal football club.
Also a new entry is Leonard Blavatnik, a Russian who made his fortune in oil. He has a £41m home in London and ranks 11th on the list at £3.9 billion. Another arrival from the former Soviet Union is Vladimir Kim, who heads the London-based mining company Kazakhmys. Kim is worth £2.9 billion.
The rich get richer under any government - even in the former soviet union and China. It's good for everyone that they live here. What's important is, are the poor getting richer as well? Labour did well with that for the first 10 years, but it seams an increasingly harder thing to achieve.
jason , Liverpool,
Hats off to Laxmi Mittal who has made it to the top inspite of all the disadvantages he must have faced to reach the top.
Greater still for coming from a poor country like India and making it to the Top of the Rich of UK 2008. And lastly salutations to him for still holding on to his Indian passpor
Dr Satish Bali, Walsall, UK
I guess who is richer than who, and the order of their wealth isn't important. Once you've got anywhere near a billion, the figures themselves really mean squat.
And the envy shown by people here is understandable. I'm envious, but admire rather than hate these successful people.
Louise, London,
These figures are largely guesswork.
Frank Upton, Solihull,
How much will each Rich List person estate pay in Inheritance Tax ?
Robert Frampton, Wynyard, Tasmania
So many people who work their buts of for so little with no hope of making a fortune and yet these people have gone from rich to richer. And to think the Labour party calls itself socialist. I'm shocked.
richard, oxford,
They own the Banks don't they? You would think they have Billions if not trillions eh?
Barry Cowers, Isle of Mann, United Kingdom
Everyone's a millionaire if one can have 1 meal a day ! Everyone's a Multi millionaire if one can share that meal with others, their family and friends !
One can also say that with money, at least you can be "miserable in comfort" !
Who wants to be a millionaire ? I just want to live like one !
dkp, London, UK
Rothschild not on the list? Surely they have a few quid here and there?
Gary Flower, Rochdale, United Kingdom
I'll bet few these people are in the top 1000 or even 10,000,000 of top rate tax payers. The begrudgingly minimul non dom tax requirement in some case probably eqates to about one to half of one hours interest gain. Keep up the good work Gordon!
Frank, Cheshire, UK
we dont need super rich in this country time to tax them. they dont live here becasue of the tax laws they partly live here becasue of the security this coutnry (island offers) and the values that this country had in the past which the people of this country have now forgotten.
Captalism is failing
amit hindocha, leicester,
How amazing that "Two Richest Men in Britain" are foreigners.
geedale, leeds, west yorkshire
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer - how have "New" Labour managed this? Well, they all grew up under Thatcher.
Uncle Buck, Liverpool,
the rich getting richer weres robin hood when you need him
kev , st helens,
I'm not against the rich - I hope to join them someday but most of are economy is a closed loop so as a (mostly) zero sum game those who win do so at the cost of the losers.
Its really is quite depressing...
Mark, London, England, UK
how many brits are self dependants. Most of the brits depend on government. Brits cant live without benefits & always try to rip-ff government by the name of claims and benefits. why cant they live without booze, holidays, cigarates, useless luxury etc.
mayur B, leicester, leicestershire
Mittal's son recently gave £15 million to Great Ormond Street hospital earlier this month. There are lots of acts of philanthropy like this that don't get mentioned.
John, London,
Super rich get richer, ordinary home-owners feel like millionaires because of rising property market, that's why Nulab managed to fool people into voting them in for a third time. Meanwhile, everyone blowing money on cheap credit, booze etc and having a rare old time, the country is falling apart .
SOS, Oxfordshire, England,
Right,
-country gone to war
-ID cards on the way
-rich getting richer
This is really a conservative government, right?
Sam, London,
I'll bet they're not half as happy as i am when i'm wading about fishing for bass in luce bay.
Ron, Penrith, UK
These wealthy people must employ hundreds of thousands (even millions) of people in the UK.
They contribute the the economy of the country by spending their money and paying their taxes
... stop whinging and be grateful they choose to be in the UK
SA, Hurst, UK
The Labour government had made us all better off over the last 10 years with increased property prices and it is obvious that the richest people will have benefitted most. But a year ago Labour temporarily forgot their true supporters by abolishing the 10p tax band; a fatal error.
john, milton keynes,
Whatever happens nothing will change, there are enterprising people and those who only want something for nothing. If all of the waelth in the world was shared out today, what would be the situation in 5 years time ! That same as we have today !
c hooks, holton le clay, lincolnshire
The rich list is meaningless. What I would like to see is a list of individuals who contributed most to our society in financial terms, or a simple list of people who paid the most amount in income tax. I seriously double the likes of Mittal or Abramovich would be on the top ten list.
YK, London,
You get rich by 'ripping off' the poor.,So dont make excuses,like look how hard i worked for it.
The rich stole it from the working class.
The 'rot started with Margret Thatcher and her 'fat cats'
Disgusting people.
As far as my friends and i am concerned, Labour has lost our votes
grahamj, Cardiff, UK
Reading comments I am surprised at the number of letters referring to'jealousy'.It is incorrect,it is probably asking a question that we should all be asking of each other. Why a person needs to have so much when there are obvious needs surrounding us.Generous they may be and are.Immoral perhaps!
Patrick Mason, Bristol, England
"Rich get richer under Labour", never thought I would hear that.
Carpenter, T, Winchester, UK
The rich get rich by robbing the planet earth of its resources. They are the epitome of the destructive process of making money in general.The planet earth does not have the resources to make millionaires. From an environmental viewpoint they are "undesireables" to be scorned.
Jim Wills, Brisbane, Australia
can someone please explain how the russians have grown so quickly to start off you need to save money or be tgivenj it or marry it or help yourself to it or perhaps inherit some which of these possibilities is most likely?
jim, edinburgh,
Oh dear, when people have more money than you some folk do get bitter. Well get on out there and be an entrepreneur yourself - instead of thinking about where your next holiday will be (which means spending money), get thinking about how to seek out opportunity and make it for yourself!
AR, Reading, UK
Its amazing to see how many have commented on Mittals origin. Yes he is an Indian, but he is doing his bit for the UK economy..he provides jobs for one. The gap between the rich and the poor inevitably gets larger, good for you Labour.
James, London,
Its time to wake up and see what you can do. Foreigners work hard. Us Brits wait for our next holiday before we have finished the present one.
John, cambridge, UK
Blair and Brown should both face the charges of treason for what they've done to this country!Why haven't these 2 invested in British people instead of bending over backwards for these foreigners.Time for a new government to chuck out all non European people and invest in British
ian, Prestan, Britistan
Why any surprise? Labour has long since ceased being the standard bearer for social justice and equity. After all, New Labour is the child of Thatcher.
Jim O'Sullivan, Sligo, Ireland
Somehow rich foreign billionaires move to London with their money and jealous people finds a way to blame Thatcher and Reagan from 20 years ago? Let them and their money come over here and spend it. I wont mind. One day i hope to be rich. Not just bitter someone else is. Stop blaming others.
William Carson, Atlanta, USA
Michael, Why upset? The so called Indian is not British yet! Why you are reading poverty in India and the success story of these entreprenuers together? They are settled here because they have put huge amount of money in the financial market here and to me it is not any bad to the British economy!
Manojkumar, Liberton, Scotland
If New Labour had looked seriously at some of the
inherent unfairness in our system, I would have
said good luck to these people.
But, from means testing to the capital allowance
being 3k above personal allowance...
N Labour did nothing.
Woking classes.... wake up .
M walker, Nr Bromsgrove, Bromsgrove
You can't get rich without bending the rules.
David, Bromley,
I used to enjoy reading the rich list but actually find it rather tacky now. The standard of living in the uk for most is pretty dour, paying a fortune for some dreadful little box on an estate somewhere whilst working the longest hours in the west to pay for it.....
r dawes, worcester, uk
I'm no fan of tax, anyone on decent money paying 40% plus high indirect taxes and v.high duties on items like petrol and alchohol but many of the people on list pay little or no tax, Lady Green for instance is a Monoco resident and took a one billion pound bonus and paid only 60k in tax!! Get real.
r chandler, worcester, uk
Most of the people on this list are NON DOMS. They pay little or no tax. Thats HOW they become wealthy (and good luck to them) It has nothing to do with labour, they havnt a clue how business works, a bit like the writer of your article.
D Smith, newmarket, uk
Who needs the Tories!
S.Smith, London,
Here come the winging Brits again, always jealous of successful people.
CA, Manchester, UK
How tedious to see people jealously bemoaning the wealth that these people have created. The wonderful thing about this country is that ANYONE with the confidence, ability and determination can do it for themselves, there are few things holding use back.
Jimmy, London,
Socialism under Labour in this country is clear: in order to pay for the expanding network of government to administer the expanding body of laws (which are enacted to keep the expanding network of government in jobs), it is necessary to be ever friendly to big business to fund it all through tax.
A.N, London, UK
The list is of "Richest people in UK" not of UK Citizens or peopel born in UK. Mittal & Abramovich etc. choose to live in UK and pay taxes - Lord Green chooses to live abroad. Doen't it say something ?
I am for money makers - so long as UK taxes are paid in full and public funds are not misused.
Dilip, Birmingham, UK
Well - what did you expect...? This is a 24 carat capitalist country with a capital C, after all...! The rot set in with Margaret Thatcher - who openly admired Tony Bliar (and we can all see why...!) The rest, as they say - like Gordon Brown (and Grey Britain itself...!) - is history.
John Jay, Walton on Thames, UK
So if Thatcher and Regan's philosophy of trickle-down economy is right we can all look forward to a massive windfall any moment then? I won't be holding my breath.
Stratford Tony, Salisbury, UK
All this moaning and all these complaints about the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer, blah blah blah... Oh, please. If poor people need to work harder, study harder, and stop their 12 year-olds from having kids. Let's celebrate success, not tax it to provide excessive social security.
Latch, Cambridge, UK
We live in the age of globalisation, which is a child of colonialism. Labour at least became richer with Mittal. The capital of people such as him has likely developed from both early colonial Indian investment, made in foreseeing the end of the Anglo-Indian system, and theosophy, East-West.
Jaap den Haan, Namen,
Politics is not for the working classes we only pay for it.
Politics has always been the the better off, so why the surprise.
Nemo
Jon Nemo, Llanelli, UK
This doesn't go down well. While supportive of the free market economy, those of us who are struggling with rising fuel and food costs must ask ourselves how can these people have so much, while we have so little? How well are we served by such an unfair system, and what will do to change it?
Melina Jackson, Leicester, UK
incredible how this country can house indians with fabulous fortunes while 100's of millions of people live in poverty in india. It makes me sick and ashamed to be british to have these people living here and clased as british. The world is getting more disgusting every day.mafias rule the world.
michael jones, ipswich, u.k.
Mostly foreign-born. Take out the Russian kleptocrats, who are in a class of their own, and it just goes to go that the UK is a place where everybody can get a square deal..... except the English of course
Richard, Bexhill, UK
Why are people moaning about people being rich? It is the super-rich who provide jobs and the economic growth which allows us to live a comparatively comfortable existence. They also provide us with the products and services we consumers want. Long life the Entrepreneur!!!
James, Reading, UK
So here we are in 2008, an economy built on the patronage of the super-rich, with most people in horrific amounts of debt while the price of living goes up and up.. You'd think the tories had been in power for the past decade!
Oh yes, they have haven't they..
Owen, London, UK
I fail to see what is wrong with an increase in the gap between the rich and the poor as long as the poor are better off than they were previously.
ANything else is the politics of envy.
Tom, Leeds, UK
Your headline 2 weeks ago was "'Cannon fodder' men dying in mines of UK’s richest man".
Allan, Torquay,
Don't blame Thatcher!! Labour = Socialism. Socialism is a chronic disease, always progressive, always fatal. Examine the past 150 years history. Socialism always fails! The rich get richer, the poor poorer and the rulers introduce harsher and harsher laws to keep the plebs in order. Familiar?
Terry, Chichester, UK
lets have some equal rights for us paupers, and have a sunday times poverty list..there are lots more of us!
p cooper, bolton, england
This is the quandary of modern politics in so-called western Democracies. The Left and the Right have embraced the same ideals, and both have spared no effort to smother old left ideals such as strong union and good social protections. Result, terrible lives for the majority and Debt is King.
victor compton, Cherbourg, France
There must be something fundamentally unfair with a tax system which allows the privileged few to increase their wealth - which they cannot possibly spend - generation after generation while the rest of the population struggles to make a living and pass on assets built up over a lifetime.
peterfieldman, paris , france
Most of above comments are directed at labour, rather than celebrating britain is heading globally in financial matters. Poor or common would have had problems any way, like any other country, despite the fact whether rich get richer or not.
sam, newport, UK
Who would have thought the gap between rich and poor would increase under Labour? Me for one! They have been disasterous for the downtrodden working class and the sooner they are consigned to the scrapheap of history,the better for us all! The economy is on the edge of an abyss due to Labour!
R.B., Leicester,
I have had a quick glance at the top 150 list for 2008. It would be interesting to know how many are first or second generation immigrants; at least 50%.
Why is New Labour is doing its best to rid us of these people with changes to tax law.
Tom, Leeds, UK
Sure the richest man in Britain is an Indian - but isn't he a Non-Domicile? - in other words - how much tax does he really pay? - he probably contributes more to the Labour party for his non dom status than he does to the Treasury for his tax.
Steve, Northampton, UK
Yes, lets send all the foriegners home. My relatives fought wars to protect our country. Now we let them stoll in and buy up what they want. The rich are just economic migrants on another level. When you cannot buy a house on 3 x salary then something is badly wrong.
Mike, Newmarket, UK
The super rich are imports not home grown the tax burden on the middle class show which section of society are funding Labour's wasteful policies.
steve tea, manchester, cheshire
Mittal is not british by any stretch of imagination. He still holds an Indian passport and is living in UK only for logistical reasons. He has no recourse to public funds, so whatever tax he pays is a bonus for the state. But I like the picture, speaks volumes.
Peter Martin, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear
Thatcher created the enviroment that allowed and enabled Toyota, Honda, Nissan and BMW to set up production in the UK. The unions created the enviroment where the owners of Triumph, Hilman, Humber.......... were driven away from re investing in UK manufacturing The Germans did not have this problem
Gary, Coventry,
Sweet, the richest guy in Britain is an Indian. Out of curiosity what would happen to him if the BNP, British National Front, or UK independence party where to come to power? Would he be deported along with the other foreginers? Thats about £50 (10% of GDP) or more gone in one big sweep.
Rashlat, Kent, England
I'm sure the 5.4 million lowest paid people in this country who are now even poorer thanks to Brown's abolition of the 10p tax band will be heartened to read that New Labour is looking after the super-rich even better than the Tories - what a sick state of affairs!
Tom, Warrington,
Thatcher destroyed "productive industry" ! Overmanning, bad management, and hostile unions were of course going to make industry pay. I worked in the engineering industry, those of us who could see what the Germans were capable of shook our heads in disbelief - British Leyland, money down the tubes
Alex, Winchester, UK
Alhora! So what's new?
Kip Hambis, London,
Man I'd have a grin like theirs aswell
Kip Hambis, London,
Now how about a list of people who accumulated great wealth AND pay taxes ( other than nominal). Ah that's a little harder to do isn't it?
Judith, London, UK
So the names Labour and Conservative have got mixed up then.
Jeff, Manchester,
New Labour under Blair / Brown is really Old Thatcherite Tory, Re- badged.
She destroyed productive industry, New labour has re employed most of these,in the civil service, and now over 50% of the UK citizens,are totally dependent on the state for their livelehoods.
Glad I was able to escape. .
J Richmond, Perth.,
How and why the connection to Labour in the title of the story.
You the writer of the article, I and the rest of the readers know they have nothing what so ever to do with the rich getting richer (they haven't got a clue how business works).
Dan, London, England
It seems incredible that under a socialist government since it came into power, the gulf between the rich and poor has widened so much. The long term effects on social cohesion have yet to be seen. Perhaps New Labour should adopt the motto: More Tory than Tory.
Dwight Vandryver, Scholar Green, Cheshire, UK
Nice pic. Is the face of Britain.
Fabio C, London, UK