UK borrowing costs rise and sterling falls as City traders brace for Burnham; Reform donor Christopher Harborne joins UK rich list – Business live

The UK’s 350 wealthiest individuals and families now have a combined wealth of £784bn, Sunday Times reports

The Sunday Times have also calculated the UK’s biggest donors to charity.

Hedge fund manager Sir Chris Hohn tops the list after giving away £1.4bn — or 16.8% of his estimated £8.6bn wealth in the last year, either personally or through his three foundations which include The Children’s Investment (TCI) fund.

“I don’t need to persuade [anyone] that rich people are hoarding their money, many have made pledges but it’s about 0.4 per cent of their wealth they give away a year.”

“I’m not doing this for publicity, but to see if I can encourage others to give. Our life is a gift and that means our money is a gift and we’re meant to share it.”

The fact the number of billionaires has risen to 157 and their wealth has grown to £784 billion is outrageous, while one in five kids are living in poverty, small businesses are going under, and services are crippled by underinvestment.

Right now, it feels like the Rich List is a running total of everything that is wrong in our society—a handful of people counting obscene amounts of wealth while everyone else scrapes by. It’s blindingly obvious, to anyone paying attention, that we need to do something about this.

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