The combined wealth of the 1,000 richest men and women in Britain has risen to record levels in the past year, despite the country’s continuing economic slump. Their total fortune has risen by just under five per cent since 2011, to £414 billion, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List.
That exceeds the previous record of £412.8 billion set in 2008, which came just a few months before the financial crash from which the wider British economy has yet to recover.
Heading the list for the seventh year running is the steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, although his wealth has fallen £4,814m to £12,700m, placing him just £385m ahead of Alisher Usmanov, whose Metalloinvest is Russia’s biggest iron ore producer. Usmanov’s fortune has also fallen, in his case by £85m in the past year, in part because of charitable donations of £91m. Third placed Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea FC has seen his wealth fall by £800m to £9,500m.