Rishi Sunak enters Rich List as Roman Abramovich's wealth cut in half

20 May 2022, 13:02

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has entered The Sunday Times Rich List with his wife for the first time – as Britain grapples with the cost of living crisis.

Along with Akshata Murty, his wealth is listed as £730m at a time when he has been accused of being out of touch and failing to do enough to help Brits struggling with the increasing cost of living.

Sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich saw his wealth tumble, having dropped from eighth on the list to 28th - as his fortune went from £12.2bn last year to £6bn this year.

That follows the enforced sale of his football club, Chelsea, and a fall in in Evraz shares.

Mr Sunak's wealth came under scrutiny over his wife's business dealings in Russia, and whether such a rich family could understand the day-to-day struggles of ordinary Brits.

Top of this year's rich list are Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family, whose £28.472bn followed a £11.472bn increase. Their wealth comes from industry and finance.

Inventor Sir James Dyson and his family came second, with £23bn, up £6.7bn on last year, and David and Simon Reuben and their family were third. Their wealth, which mostly comes from property and the internet, was worth £22.265bn, up £800m.

Read more: Boris tells LBC 'we will get through cost of living crisis' as he vows to support Brits

Boris Johnson and his government have resisted calls for a windfall tax, despite Labour's insistence it would raise billions that could be used to cut energy bills as costs spiral.

Inflation hit a 40-year high in April.

And the Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey warned MPs he felt "helpless" over how he could help.

Boris Johnson told LBC's Nick Ferrari "there is more coming down the track… July and so on", but did not go into details.

Sir Keir insisted during PMQs on Wednesday that the reluctant Prime Minister would make an "inevitable U-turn" on a one-off windfall tax.

He said: "He doesn't actually understand what working families are going through in this country. Struggling about how they're going to pay their bills.

"Whilst he dithers British households are slapped with an extra £53 million on their energy bills every single day. Meanwhile every single day North Sea oil and gas giants rake in £32 million in unexpected profits.

Read more: PM says Government is 'helping people in any way we can' as he's grilled on windfall tax

"Doesn't he see that every single day he delays his inevitable U-turn, he's going to do it, he's choosing to let people struggle when they don't need to?"

Mr Johnson said the Government was helping people with the cost-of-living crisis "in any way that we can".

He said: "In July we will have the biggest tax cut for 10 years, £330 cut on average for 30 million people who are paying National Insurance Contributions and the reason we can do that is because we have a strong and robust economy.

"I'm going to look at all measures in future to support, of course I am, but the only reason we can do that, the only reason our companies are in such robust health is because of the decisions that this Government has taken."