Chancellor Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty have become two of the richest people in Britain as thousands across the country struggle with spiralling living costs.
The pair ranked 222nd on The Sunday Times Rich List, with a joint fortune of £730 million, as Russian billionaires tumbled down this year’s rankings.
The bulk of the pair’s wealth stems from the Chancellor’s wife who has a £690million statke in IT giant Infosys.
Infosys was founded by her father NR Narayana and is estimated to have resulted in payouts of £54million to the Chancellor’s wife over the last seven-and-a-half years.
Last month, it was revealed Ms Murty had non-dom status, which typically applies to someone who was born overseas and spends much of their time in the UK but still considers another country to be their permanent residence or “domicile”.
She later agreed to pay UK taxes on her worldwide income following public outcry.
Mr Sunak was also cleared of breaching the ministerial code by Boris Johnson’s standards adviser, Lord Geidt, after the Chancellor referred himself amid accusations he had failed to be transparent over his wife’s non-dom status.
The Chancellor faced further scrutiny over his possession of a US green card until October last year. Green card holders must pay US tax on their worldwide income and consider America as their permanent home.
Their place on the rich list comes as Mr Sunak gave a speech at the Confederation of British Industry, when he said: “There is no measure any government could take, no law we could pass, that can make these global forces disappear overnight.
“The next few months will be tough. But where we can act, we will.”
Prior to his speech, it was announced that inflation in the UK rose to nine per cent for April, the highest level since the 1980s, and is expected to rise again later this year.
Meanwhile, Russian former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich slid from eighth to 28th in rankings after his finances plummeted from £12.2 billion last year to £6 billion this year following sanctions, the enforced sale of Chelsea and a sharp fall in his Evraz shares.
The latest ranking of the 250 richest people in Britain also revealed a record 177 billionaires in the UK this year, up from 2021.
Overall, the richest 250 in the UK this year are worth £710.72billion, compared to £658billion in 2021, an eight per cent rise on last year, the Sunday Times said.
