Labour MP to say Sunday Times rich list exposes “warped system”

The Sunday Times may have celebrated this year's crop of the UK's richest individuals as self-made entrepreneurs triumphing over old money, but Labour MP John Trickett has taken a different view.

In a speech to the Institute for Public Policy and Research tomorrow, Trickett, the shadow cabinet office minister and MP for Hemworth, will say the Sunday Times' annual ranking of Britain's top 1,000 wealthiest people “exposes a warped system in which a super-rich elite runs rings around the rest of us”.

Trickett will say: “People have had enough of years of the elite pinching wealth from the pockets of ordinary working people. Labour will overturn the rigged economy that the Tories are obsessed with protecting.”

Trickett has long been vocal in his distaste for the rich list, which this year is notable for its top entrant, Jim Ratcliffe, growing up in a council house in Greater Manchester before amassing a colossal £21bn fortune.

Read more: Jim Ratcliffe on brink of choosing location for Land Rover Defender project

Earlier today Trickett told Sky News' Sophy Ridge that the wealth of those at the top had come from the "cuts in the services and the loss of income from most people in Britain", adding: "And it can't be right that a system is being run just for a couple of thousand people."

On #Ridge I spoke about the Rich List & how a tiny group of the richest have got richer, while the rest are faced with cuts & falling incomes
We need a system where people on middle & low incomes can get on in life, rather than a system run for the few, at the expense of the many pic.twitter.com/r6de8BLeKT

— Jon Trickett (@jon_trickett) May 13, 2018

Last year he derided the ranking on the Labour List website. He wrote: "Its clear the British establishment use the rules to their own advantage and when the Conservatives are in power they do everything to keep things that way.

"Labour is determined to break open this system. To build a new kind of government. One which works for the many and not just the few."

Robert Watts, the compiler of the Sunday Times Rich List, said: “Britain is changing. Gone are the days when old money and a small band of industries dominated the Sunday Times Rich List.

“Aristocrats and inherited wealth has been elbowed out of the list and replaced by an army of self-made entrepreneurs. Todays super rich include people who have set up businesses selling chocolate, sushi, pet food and eggs.

“Were seeing more people from humble backgrounds, who struggled at school or who didnt even start their businesses until well into middle age. Meanwhile, technology is also playing a bigger part in helping more young people make their fortunes and small companies to grow.

"Britains rich are getting richer, but the cast of Britains 1,000 richest people is an ever-changing and increasingly diverse cast of people."

Read more: Revealed: the UK's 10 richest people

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