Britain's six richest people are as wealthy as the poorest 13 million

For many of us, it’s hardly news that billionaires have far too much money.

A new study by Equality Trust has proved the massive disparity between rich and poor in this country. Apparently, the UK’s six richest people, with a combined fortune of £39.4bn, control roughly as much wealth as the poorest 13.2 million.

Those richest six have been named as brothers and businessmen Gopichand and Srichand Hinduja with £12.8bn between them, Sir Jim Ratcliffe the chairman and chief executive of the chemicals company Ineos with £9.2bn, hedge fund manager Michael Platt with £6.1bn, and property developers David and Simon Reuben who have £5.7bn each.

While the figures, based on reports by Forbes magazine and Credit Suisse, may not be entirely accurate, they do serve to highlight the massive gap between rich and poor in this country. The Equality Trust reportedly also estimated that around 14m people in Britain live in poverty, with 1.5m of them being destitute.

Dr Wanda Wyporska, the executive director of the Equality Trust, said:

Such a huge gap between the very rich and the vast majority of the country is dangerous. Such extreme wealth in the hands of so few people demonstrates just how broken the economic system is.

Many of us find it difficult to contemplate just *how* rich billionaires are, but games like “Spend Bill Gates’ money”, where you see just how much it would take to spend £90bn, go some way to exemplifying it.

Inequality is a huge issue with this election, with Labour promising to tackle many of the issues that cause these giant gulfs between rich and poor in the UK.

Conservative Home Secretary Priti Patel caused controversy when she said that the government is not responsible for poverty, despite dramatic rises that studies have linked to the government's austerity agenda.

So, in summary: eat the rich!

H/T: Guardian

More: Bill Gates is complaining about paying ‘$100bn’ under Warren’s wealth tax and everyone made the same point​