UK billionaires see fortunes soar in pandemic

Number of billionaires increases by nearly a quarter

Sir Leonard Blavatnik, with his wife Emily Appelson, was named the richest person in the country (Getty for Naras)

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 warned of a “dangerous gap” between the richest and poorest in society as the number of billionaires in the UK rose to a new high of 171.

While the economy shrunk at its fastest pace in three centuries, and millions of people were put on taxpayer-funded furlough, the number of billionaires jumped 24 per cent, and their combined wealth increased 22 per cent.

The group now has assets of £597.2bn, up £106.5bn on a year ago, The Sunday Times calculated.

George Dibb, head of the Centre for Economic Justice at the IPPR think tank, said the list provided further evidence that the “underlying structure of our economy has continued to funnel wealth and power to the richest in society”.

“If we’re going to get the whole economy into recovery, and leave no one and nowhere behind, we need to change this,” he said.

“Societies that are so unequal are bad for everyone, and policymakers need to address this dangerous gap or risk people losing trust 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 topped the list for the first time with a fortune of £23bn.

Mr Blavatnik has interest in a range of businesses including Warner Music, which listed in the US last year allowing him to sell a £1.37bn stake.

Sir James Dyson slipped back from first to fourth in the list after his wealth increased by £100m to £16.3bn.

Property investors and prominent Conservative Party donors David and Simon Reuben rose to second place after their wealth increased by £5.5bn to £21.5bn.

Robert Watts, compiler of the rich list, said: “The global pandemic created lucrative opportunities for many online retailers, social networking apps and computer games tycoons.

“The fact many of the super-rich grew so much wealthier at a time when thousands of us have buried loved ones and millions of us worried for our livelihoods makes this a very unsettling boom.”

The annual index of the country’s wealthiest residents showed that oil and media investor Mr Blavatnik saw his fortune surge by £7.2bn to around £23bn during the pandemic-hit year.

These are the 10 richest people in the country, according to the rich list:

Sir Leonard Blavatnik – £23bn

David and Simon Reuben – £21.46bn

Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family – £17bn

Sir James Dyson and family – £16.3bn

Lakshmi Mittal and family – £14.68bn

Alisher Usmanov – £13.4bn

Kirsten and Jorn Rausing – £13bn

Roman Abramovich – £12.1bn

Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho – £12.01bn

Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and family – £11bn