
UK sees big fall in billionaires after non-dom tax crackdown, Rich List shows
The annual list of Britain's wealthiest people was once again topped by the Hinduja family, who are worth more than £35 billion.
Famous figures including Sir Elton John, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Sir Lewis Hamilton, David and Victoria Beckham, and the King all appear in the list of the UK's 350 richest individuals and families.
The latest publication however reveals a third consecutive slump in the number of billionaires residing in the UK.
The number of billionaires slid to 156 this year from 165 in 2024, representing the sharpest decline in the Sunday Times Rich List's 37-year-history.
'Our billionaire count is down and the combined wealth of those who feature in our research is falling,' said Robert Watts, compiler of the Rich List.
'We are also finding fewer of the world's super rich are coming to live in the UK.'
He said he was also 'struck by the strength of criticism for Rachel Reeves's Treasury' when speaking to wealthy individuals for the publication.
Mr Watts said: 'We expected the abolition of non-dom status would anger affluent people from overseas.
'But homegrown young tech entrepreneurs and those running centuries-old family firms are also warning of serious consequences to a range of tax changes unveiled in last October's budget.'
The Labour Government abolished the non-dom tax status in April, which is where UK residents whose permanent home or domicile for tax purposes is outside the UK.
Last year, former Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt revealed plans to scrap the tax status before successor Rachel Reeves sped up the process.
Akshata Murty, the wife of former prime minister Rishi Sunak, is among those who were well-known non-doms.
The couple once again appear in the Rich List, although their wealth slipped to £640 million from £651 million a year earlier, after her shares in Infosys – the tech company founded by her father – fell over tariff concerns.
Other notable figures on the list included the King, whose wealth matched that of Mr Sunak and Ms Murty at £640 million.
Gopi Hinduja and his family, who are behind the Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group, were named Britain's richest again in 2025, despite their wealth dipping to £35.3 billion from £37.2 billion.
The Hindujas were followed in the list by real estate moguls David and Simon Reuben, who moved up to second after increasing their wealth to £26.9 billion.
They were followed by investor Sir Leonard Blavatnik, entrepreneur Sir James Dyson and shipping tycoon Idan Ofer.
The biggest faller in 2025 was Ineos founder and Manchester United part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe who saw his wealth decline by around £6 billion for the second consecutive year.
He is seventh on the list with a wealth of around £17 billion.
Meanwhile, the biggest risers were the Russian-born brothers Igor and Dmitry Bukhman who built a fortune on mobile games such as Gardenscapes and Fishdom, who saw their wealth almost double to £12.5 billion.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Powys County Times
an hour ago
- Powys County Times
Powys County Council's budget black hole value queried
HOW big a funding gap Powys County Council is expected to fill with cuts and savings over the next four to fove years varies by over £20 million – a councllor has pointed out. Calls were made to clarify the figures that the council is using to explain their predicted financial black hole during a joint meeting of all of the council's scrutiny committee's on Wednesday, June 11. At the meeting, councillors looked at the council's draft Corporate and Equalities Strategic Plan which has been updated from the version that was agreed earlier this year. The plan sets out the council's well-being objectives, and what action they need to take to deliver them up the next local election in 2027. All the departmental strategies, action and business plans are linked by a 'golden thread' into this document which encompasses them all. This plan is supposed to keep track of how the council is performing against the three objectives of the Liberal Democrat/Labour cabinet's Stronger Fairer, Greener agenda. Cllr Gareth E Jones (Powys Independents) highlighted the problem and said: 'If you go to the leader and deputy leader's introduction (to the document) there's a statement there that the funding gap is £60 million but on the MTFS (Medium Term Financial Strategy) the funding gap on those assumptions is shown as £39.1 million. 'I think they two figures need to be the same for consistency.' Director of corporate services and section 151 officer, Jane Thomas replied: 'We can and will amend that to the latest figure, it should reflect what was approved in council back in February. 'We will see the gap change quite often now as we go through the years and we develop our five year plans.' Making sure that the figure changes forms one of the recommendations made by councillors at the meeting – which will be added to the report when it goes before cabinet at a later date. Another recommendation by councillors is that members of the Liberal Democrat/Labour cabinet should attend the joint scrutiny meeting to explain and if needed defend the council's performance. Cllr Jones said: 'It was very disappointing about the number of cabinet members that were present today, we should have a recommendation at future meetings that they have more presence. 'This is the council's performance document ,officers develop the plan but cabinet member sign it off.' Learning and skills committee chairman who chaired the joint-scrutiny meeting, Cllr Gwynfor Thomas (Conservative) said: 'I'm happy to do that as they (cabinet members) are the line holders and are responsible for the different measures and things.'


Powys County Times
an hour ago
- Powys County Times
Tories ‘got it wrong' when they backed 2045 net zero target, Findlay says
Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay insisted his party is the only one 'telling the truth' on net zero – as he announced the Conservatives in Scotland would scrap the target of reaching this goal by 2045. Tory MSPs had voted for legislation in 2019 which commits Scotland to achieving net zero by that date. But Mr Findlay now says they had been 'wrong' to do so. 🗣️ @RussellFindlay1: "The only just transition is an affordable transition – one that protects North Sea jobs and cuts energy bills for families and businesses. "We would scrap the SNP's 2045 net zero target. "It is unaffordable and unachievable." #SCC25 — Scottish Conservatives (@ScotTories) June 14, 2025 His comments came as a new policy paper published by the party said reaching this target would result in 'unaffordable costs for struggling families across Scotland and put at risk our oil and gas industry and farmers' businesses'. UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has already said the UK target of reaching net zero by 2050 – five years later than the Scottish date – is 'impossible'. While Scottish Tories had previously backed the 2045 date, Mr Findlay told the PA news agency: 'I think yes, we did get it wrong'. When Conservative MSPs at Holyrood supported the 2045 date, he said they had done so 'so on the basis of what was known in those moments'. But he added: 'The situation has become clearer, it is evident to everybody watching this, to everybody in the Scottish Parliament, if they were being honest. 'Both Labour, the SNP and the rest of them would admit that the 2045 target isn't just unaffordable it's unachievable – that's the reality. 'So we're telling the truth to the Scottish public.' Mr Findlay continued: 'We want to reach net zero fairly and quickly. We understand the climate crisis emergency but we cannot harm our own economy and force householders who are already struggling to pay the bills with yet more great costs. 'Whether it be ripping out their gas boilers and putting in costly heat pumps, or forcing them to get rid of their cars and buying very expensive electric alternatives. 'This has got to be about the balance between ensuring we reach net zero properly and speedily, but recognising that it cannot come at a crippling cost to those people out there who are having to pay for it.' Asked later by journalists if his party was pandering to climate sceptics, Mr Findlay said they were 'absolutely not', adding the Tories were the only party 'telling the truth' on the issue. His comments came as the Scottish Conservatives promised to give every household in Scotland a £100 discount on their energy bills – with this to be funded from money accrued from the ScotWind auction, where areas of the seabed were leased for offshore wind power projects. The paper also said the Tories would make pylons 'an option of last resort for energy infrastructure projects' – with the party promising legislation to give people 'greater decision-making authority over local infrastructure projects' by abolishing the Scottish Government's existing energy consents union. Speaking about the changes as he addressed the Scottish Conservative conference in Edinburgh, Mr Findlay said: 'We would scrap the SNP's 2045 net zero target. It is unaffordable and unachievable.' He added that instead of spending money on 'SNP eco-projects', the Tories would 'use it to protect oil and gas workers' livelihoods'. Mr Findlay continued: 'We would take £100 off every household energy bill in Scotland from the proceeds of leasing our waters to wind farms.


South Wales Guardian
an hour ago
- South Wales Guardian
Tories ‘got it wrong' when they backed 2045 net zero target, Findlay says
Tory MSPs had voted for legislation in 2019 which commits Scotland to achieving net zero by that date. But Mr Findlay now says they had been 'wrong' to do so. 🗣️ @RussellFindlay1: "The only just transition is an affordable transition – one that protects North Sea jobs and cuts energy bills for families and businesses. "We would scrap the SNP's 2045 net zero target. "It is unaffordable and unachievable."#SCC25 — Scottish Conservatives (@ScotTories) June 14, 2025 His comments came as a new policy paper published by the party said reaching this target would result in 'unaffordable costs for struggling families across Scotland and put at risk our oil and gas industry and farmers' businesses'. UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has already said the UK target of reaching net zero by 2050 – five years later than the Scottish date – is 'impossible'. While Scottish Tories had previously backed the 2045 date, Mr Findlay told the PA news agency: 'I think yes, we did get it wrong'. When Conservative MSPs at Holyrood supported the 2045 date, he said they had done so 'so on the basis of what was known in those moments'. But he added: 'The situation has become clearer, it is evident to everybody watching this, to everybody in the Scottish Parliament, if they were being honest. 'Both Labour, the SNP and the rest of them would admit that the 2045 target isn't just unaffordable it's unachievable – that's the reality. 'So we're telling the truth to the Scottish public.' Mr Findlay continued: 'We want to reach net zero fairly and quickly. We understand the climate crisis emergency but we cannot harm our own economy and force householders who are already struggling to pay the bills with yet more great costs. 'Whether it be ripping out their gas boilers and putting in costly heat pumps, or forcing them to get rid of their cars and buying very expensive electric alternatives. 'This has got to be about the balance between ensuring we reach net zero properly and speedily, but recognising that it cannot come at a crippling cost to those people out there who are having to pay for it.' Asked later by journalists if his party was pandering to climate sceptics, Mr Findlay said they were 'absolutely not', adding the Tories were the only party 'telling the truth' on the issue. His comments came as the Scottish Conservatives promised to give every household in Scotland a £100 discount on their energy bills – with this to be funded from money accrued from the ScotWind auction, where areas of the seabed were leased for offshore wind power projects. The paper also said the Tories would make pylons 'an option of last resort for energy infrastructure projects' – with the party promising legislation to give people 'greater decision-making authority over local infrastructure projects' by abolishing the Scottish Government's existing energy consents union. Speaking about the changes as he addressed the Scottish Conservative conference in Edinburgh, Mr Findlay said: 'We would scrap the SNP's 2045 net zero target. It is unaffordable and unachievable.' He added that instead of spending money on 'SNP eco-projects', the Tories would 'use it to protect oil and gas workers' livelihoods'. Mr Findlay continued: 'We would take £100 off every household energy bill in Scotland from the proceeds of leasing our waters to wind farms. 'We will also give residents new legal powers to oppose mega-pylons.'