Sunday Times Rich List shows fortunes of British super-rich soar by a third

[Hannah Bell]

The latest annual Sunday Times Rich List reveals a massive increase in the wealth of Britain’s super-rich.

The list exposes the Brown government’s claims that its multibillion-pound bail-out of Britain’s banks was taken to ensure the economic well-being of working people. Under conditions in which all the official parties are insisting that working people must sacrifice jobs, wages and public provision to slash Britain’s £167 billion deficit, the Sunday Times reveals that the super-rich have enjoyed the largest rise in their wealth since it first began publishing the list 21 years ago. The 1,000 richest people in Britain increased their wealth by fully 30 percent last year, or £77 billion, bringing their total wealth to £333.5 billion...

As Philip Beresford, who compiled the list, notes, “The rich have come through the recession with flying colours”. “The rest of the country is going to have to face public spending cuts”, he continues, “but it has little effect on the rich because they don’t consume public services.”

...They are not simply protected from the savage spending cuts now being prepared by the next government—whatever its colouration. Rather, the increase in their wealth is the direct product of Labour’s near £1 trillion “stimulus” programme. The billions handed over to the banks were solely aimed at enabling the financial institutions and super-rich to continue their criminal speculative manipulations, and gorge themselves still further at public expense.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/apr2010/rich-a29.shtml