The Sunday Times rich list is a stark symbol of the growing inequality in the UK. As many people face worsening living conditions, a small few are becoming ever richer. Among them for the first time this year is Graham King, an Essex businessman who has accumulated a £750 million fortune, partly through taxpayer-funded government contracts.
King’s business empire includes Clearsprings Ready Homes, which has provided asylum accommodation to the Home Office since 2000. Clearsprings currently receives a whopping £3.5 million a day for asylum housing and transportation, even though the company has long been accused of providing substandard and unsafe accommodation.
The Guardian reported in 2019 that hundreds of asylum seekers were crammed into Clearsprings accommodation which was overrun by cockroaches, rats and mice. Lawyers described the sites as “depraved” and likely unfit for human habitation. One said the conditions appeared to breach environmental health laws as well as statutory rules on overcrowding.
