Rishi Sunak makes Sunday Times Rich List with £730m fortune as cost-of-living crisis bites
Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty have made the Sunday Times Rich List for the first time with their joint £730 million fortune, after their finances came under intense scrutiny last month.
It was revealed in April that Ms Murty had non-dom status, which typically applies to someone who was born overseas and spends much of their time in the UK but still considers another country to be their permanent residence or “domicile”.
It was estimated Ms Murty’s non-dom status could have saved her £20 million in taxes on dividends from her shares in Infosys, an Indian IT company founded by her father, leading Sir Keir Starmer to accuse Mr Sunak of "breath-taking hypocrisy," as the chancellor had just raised taxes on working people.
Ms Murty later agreed to pay foreign taxes on her UK income and Mr Sunak was cleared of breaching the ministerial code by Boris Johnson’s standards adviser after considering the tax affairs.
On Friday morning, the Sunday Times Rich List revealed the couple featured at 222 in the list, with their joint forecast of £730 million driven by Ms Murty’s £690 million stake in Infosys.
But who are the UK's wealthiest people?
Billionaire brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja, who run the Mumbai-based conglomerate Hinduja Group, took the top spot on the Rich List with a £28 billion fortune which is up by more than £11 billion on last year.
Second on the list with a £23 billion fortune was vacuum entrepreneur James Dyson.
But Russian billionaires including Roman Abramovich tumbled down the rankings this year amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The former Chelsea owner slid from eighth to 28th in rankings after his finances plummeted from £12.2 billion last year to £6 billion this year following sanctions, the enforced sale of Chelsea and the sharp fall in his Evraz shares.
In total, the ranking of the 250 richest people in Britain revealed a record 177 billionaires in the UK this year, up from 2021.
It comes as typical UK households come under increased financial pressure from soaring inflation, which hit a 40-year-high of 9% in April.
Overall, the richest 250 are worth £710.72 billion, compared to £658.09 billion in 2021, an 8% rise on last year, the Sunday Times said.
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know
These are the 20 richest people in the UK according to the Rich List:
Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family – £28.47 billion
Sir James Dyson and family – £23 billion
David and Simon Reuben and family – £22.26 billion
Sir Leonard Blavatnik – £20 billion
Guillaume Pousaz – £19.26 billion
Lakshmi Mittal and family – £17 billion
Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and family – £13.5 billion
Kirsten and Jorn Rausing – £12 billion
Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho – £11.42 billion
Michael Platt – £10 billion
Alisher Usmanov – £10 billion
The Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family – £9.73 billion
Barnaby and Merlin Swire and family – £9.6 billion
Marit, Lisbet, Sigrid and Hans Rausing – £9.49 billion
Anil Agarwal – £9.2 billion
Denise, John and Peter Coates – £8.64 billion
John Fredriksen and family – £8.31 billion
Christoph Henkel and family – £8.308 billion
Mikhail Fridman – £8.22 billion
Moshe Kantor – £8 billion