Number of UK billionaires falls after market turmoil, but King Charles’s wealth jumps – business live

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Luke Hildyard, Executive Director of the High Pay Centre, says today’s Rich List highlights the connection between the excess wealth of “Britain’s billionaire class” and the country’s low pay and poor public services.

Hildyard explains:

“The rich list is a useful annual reminder of the inefficiency of the UK economy. It shows a small fall in the value of oligarch assets this year, but over a longer period it illustrates how a tiny handful of very rich people have captured an increasing share of the country’s wealth.

If the super-rich and the companies they own were taxed more effectively and paid the people that work for them a better wage, living standards in Britain would be much higher. Meanwhile the rich list entrants would still be extremely rich by any reasonable person’s definition and well rewarded for whatever success they have achieved.