Campaign news

Rich get Richer under Tories – Shock Report

27th April 2015

Rich get Richer under Tories – Shock Report

The ‘Sunday Times’ Rich List 2015 is out now. It shows that the top 1,000 people are now twice as rich as they were in 2009. They are now collectively ‘worth’ £547bn as against £258bn in 2009. To get in the top 1,000 list you now have to own £100m in wealth.

These top 1,000 people are paupers besides the 117 sterling billionaires, with a wealth of £325bn between them. They have seen a 172% rise since 2009. Britain has more billionaires than any country except China and the USA, both enormously more populous countries, and more billionaires per head than anywhere else on earth.

Top cat this year is Len Blavatnik, born in Odessa. He made his pile – now worth £13.17bn – by looting the economy of the Soviet Union as it collapsed – using his connections to buy state-owned industries in oil and aluminium at knockdown prices. His swag has increased by £317bn since 2014. He owns a £41m mansion in London - Kensington Palace Gardens to be exact – as well as a $77m duplex (whatever that is) in New York.

Meanwhile working people’s real incomes have stagnated since the Great Recession. A worker on average earnings of about £25,000 a year would have to work 526,800 years to earn as much as Blavatnik boasts of.

Old money is still in the list, but their wealth is just as tainted. The Duke of Westminster is 9th richest with £8.56bn, up £60m since 2014. His ancestor was one of those Tom Paine called “the banditti that came over with the bastard” (William the Conqueror). He was given large chunks of Cheshire as a reward for his help. A more recent forerunner of his made an advantageous marriage in 1677 and came into possession of Belgravia – Mayfair - the most exclusive and expensive property district in London.

Richard Branson is back in the top 20. His wealth increased by £500m to £4.1bn in just one year. Why? Virgin Trains was given part of the East Coast rail franchise, which had been publicly owned and was steadily returning money to the Treasury. On top of the West Coast rail franchise that Branson already owns, the stock exchange correctly gauged that the government was giving him free money – our money. Virgin shares soared as a result.

So obviously the wealth of the rich is based entirely on hard work and entrepreneurial skills not given to the rest of us.

According to the Equality Trust the top 1,000 on the list have more money than the poorest 40% of households in Britain. Over the past year they just sat around living the life of Riley and saw their wealth grow by £77m a day.

This has got to stop. As a first step do all you can to get the Labour vote out on May 7th.

Background

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