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Boosted largely by rising stock markets, the newspaper said
the super-rich had doubled their collective wealth since the
2009 economic crisis and that the wealthiest 1,000 people based
in Britain were now worth 547 billion pounds ($830.67 billion),
up from 258 billion in 2009, an increase of 112 percent.
The figures are likely to be seized upon by politicians less
than two weeks before a close national election. The opposition
Labour Party accuses Prime Minister David Cameron of governing
in favour of the wealthy at the expense of the poor.
Cameron rejects that charge, but the widening gulf between those
on the list and most Britons, whose living standards have only
recently begun to return to where they were before the crisis,
is awkward for his re-election campaign.
Britain has 117 sterling billionaires, the list showed, more
than any other country except the United States and China, and
London has more billionaires (80) than ever before and more than
any other city in the world.
Blavatnik, who shot from number four to number one this year,
was worth 13.17 billion pounds, the newspaper said, up 3.17
billion on 2014. With investments in music, industry and media,
it said it would take the average Briton, on 25,000 pounds a
year, 526,800 years to match the 57 year-old's wealth.
The Indian-born Hinduja brothers, Sri and Gopi, who headed the
list last year, were placed number two with 13 billion pounds.
They have interests in industry and global finance.
The Anglo-Canadian Weston family, who own a retail empire, were
third with 11 billion pounds.
The newspaper said new money was "flooding" into Britain,
pushing Britons down the rich list. The Queen increased her
wealth by 10 million to 340 million pounds, but dropped out of
the country’s richest 300 for the first time, it said.
If it wins power on May 7, Labour has pledged to scrap tax rules
that allow wealthy individuals to legally reduce the amount of
tax they pay on money earned overseas.
The change would affect about 116,000 people who live in
Britain, some of whom figure on the rich list.
(Editing by William Hardy)
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