2008 Rich List

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Rich List reveals wealthy reap profits under LabourRichard Woods
The richest 1,000 people in Britain have seen their wealth quadruple under Labour, according to The Sunday Times Rich List published today. Even under Gordon Brown’s brief premiership their fortunes have soared by 15%, just as the financial squeeze and faltering house prices have hit ordinary people.

The collective wealth of the 1,000 richest has jumped to £412 billion, up from £99 billion in 1997. Total net wealth during the same period has slightly more than doubled.

“The 11 years of Labour have been absolutely fantastic for the super-rich,â€

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here is some more --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Even as the storm clouds gather, Britain’s super-rich have never been richer. Collectively the 1,000 multimillionaires in The Sunday Times Rich List are now worth more than £412.8 billion, up nearly £53 billion on last year. This is a handsome 14.7% rise, yet it is lower than last year when the increase nudged an extraordinary 20%.

But the super-rich have also never faced a combination of such economic and political problems as they do today. These range from the credit crunch, stock market turmoil and a looming property crash to a government looking at their tax affairs as never before.

Until now, the 11 years of Labour government have proved a boon for the super-rich, rarely seen before in modern British history. When the Blair administration came to power in 1997, the wealth of the richest 1,000 stood at a mere £98.99 billion. The near £314 billion rise in their wealth represents a 317% increase during the Labour years.

However, much of the rise in this year’s wealth can be attributed to one factor: the number of foreign rich who have made London or its environs their main home and base of operation. This year we have 75 billionaires here, up from 68 in 2007. But 40 of the 75 come from countries such as Israel, Germany, Russia and India, as well as Scandanavia. Of the top 10, only three were born in Britain. It is the foreign-born billionaires who are also getting richer quicker. Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, our No 1 again, has seen his wealth increase by nearly 44% in a year to £27.7 billion, largely the result of a successful merger which created the world’s largest steel company.

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would be interesting to find why all these foreign billionaires have decided to shack up here??? any ideas ??

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maybe this answers the question !!!! ------------------------------------------------------------ It is little wonder that the amount of tax being paid by the rich or their use of tax havens to shelter their wealth has recently become a hot political issue globally. Indeed cynics could argue that the super-rich have become a convenient target for governments trying to grapple with the credit crunch which many blame on overpaid super-rich bankers and financiers taking disastrous risks. Thus we have had the spectacle recently of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, leading a determined assault on European tax havens such as Liechtenstein.

Our own government has also started to make life more difficult for the rich after years of benign noninterference. The foreign billionaires who make London their home, using the so-called nondomicile rules whereby their overseas investments are not taxed, are likely to face an annual £30,000 charge for the privilege of living here. Thus far the mere threat of change has had no effect on the super-rich we deal with. Indeed the numbers coming to Britain or those we have unearthed has actually risen

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this is great , i am having my own little debate !!!!

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I'll join in

would be interesting to find why all these foreign billionaires have decided to shack up here??? any ideas ??

Perhaps the same as Royal Mail executives namely:

Weak or Passive Unions.
Cheap Workforce.
Reducing Pension Costs Long Term.
No anti Union Laws likely to repealed.
A 2 Party state with 1 Political ethos.
A country where greed is rewarded unless you happen to be working class, in which case you should accept what you have and not try to get more.
A working population that cant seem to see beyond their own interests and pockets, and automatically accuse people carrying out any form of IA as shirkers and selfish.
A Government in power who during the last year has said that they can see no reason why the workers are striking and should get to work (Postal Workers, Prison Officers, Teachers and Now Grangemouth workers)

Just my opinion of course.

[post2012]

Once people become "super-rich" it is very hard for a government to prevent them from building on their own wealth. Any political party in the UK would find it hard to prevent the rich from getting richer. Simple maths states that a 2% increase on £1bn is bigger than a 2% increase we may or may not get.

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"This is a handsome 14.7% rise, yet it is lower than last year when the increase nudged an extraordinary 20%".

a 14.7 % rise in our wages would be nice !!

[not me]

would be interesting to find why all these foreign billionaires have decided to shack up here??? any ideas ??

many super rich become global travellers.
moving from country to coutry enough times a year to prevent needing to pay tax to one country

[kingtubby]

Maybe we should ignore them, they might just go away I reckon they only come here for a few months per year to get included in the Sunday Times list.
Perhaps this yearly media interest, promoted by the Sunday Times (Murdoch), is just another attempt to get the rest of us to glorify monetary wealth.

[k979aaa]

For the poor have to work far harder to stay in abject poverty then the nuvo-rich will ever have too!. Is now not the time for the revolution of the masses and to the attitude of let them eat cake if they have no bread!.

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For the poor have to work far harder to stay in abject poverty then the nuvo-rich will ever have too!. Is now not the time for the revolution of the masses and to the attitude of let them eat cake if they have no bread!.