UK super-rich worth £400bn

The UK's 1,000 richest people are now collectively worth over £400 billion, according to the annual Sunday Times rich list.

Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has once again topped the list with £27.7 billion, £8 billion up on last year.

It is the fourth year that Mr Mittal has topped the list and 40 of the top 75 on the rich list are now foreign.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is second in the list, with his personal wealth rising by almost a billion pounds from £10.8 billion to £11.7 billion.

The Duke of Westminster is third in the Sunday Times list with around £7 billion. There is a new entry at number five, Alisher Usmanov, the largest stakeholder in Arsenal football club, who is worth £5.7 billion.

Hans Rausing and family come in at seventh in the list with £5.4 billion from the family's packaging rights.

Retailer Sir Philip Green and his wife Lady Green, sneak into the top ten with £4.3 billion between them.

It was not all good news for the UK's super-rich, Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson, for example saw his fortune fall by £400 million to £2.7 billion, seeing him drop from 11th to 20th in the list.

Philip Beresford, who produced the Sunday Times' annual list, said: "Until now, the 11 years of Labour government have proved a boon for the super-rich, rarely seen before in modern British history.

"However, much of the rise in this year's wealth can be attributed to one factor: the number of foreign rich who have made London or its environs the main home and base of operation," he added.