Wealth rankings
Sunak debuts in rich list as Povlsen holds top Scots spot
Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, has become the first frontline politician to appear in the annual Rich List as he faces calls to ease the cost of living crisis pushing millions Britons into fuel and food poverty.
Mr Sunak worked for Goldman Sachs and a hedge fund run by Sir Chris Hohn before becoming an MP in 2015 but the bulk of his wealth comes from his wife Akshata Murty and her £690 million stake in IT giant Infosys.
The couple’s wealth is estimated at £730 million, placing the pair at 222 in the ranking.
Danish businessman and landowner Anders Holch Povlsen, with a £6.5 billion fortune, retains his position as the richest person in Scotland.
His fortune of £6.5 billion, up £500 million, accounts for a quarter of the £23bn combined wealth of the country’s 10 billionaires and keeps him in top spot for the third successive year.
He is Scotland’s largest landowner with more than 220,000 acres in the Highlands, and owns the Danish fashion retailer Bestseller as well as the former Jenners building in Edinburgh. He holds a stake of around 25% in the British online fashion retailer Asos.
Greenock brothers Sandy and James Easdale, former directors of Rangers football club, are the wealthiest newcomers to the Scottish Rich List, with a £1.4bn fortune based on transport and property acquisitions.
Monaco-based Jim McColl, head of East-Kilbride based engineer Clyde Blowers, and former owner of controversial ferries firm Ferguson Marine, is worth £996m.
Ranked 12th in Scotland, worth £850m, is Harry Potter author and Edinburgh resident Joanne Rowling, who has added £30m to her personal fortune since 2021.
Bristol-born Rowling, 56, continues to make large charitable donations, including £6.7m last year from her Volant Trust.
There is still no mention in the list of ‘billionaire’ couple Lady Michelle Mone and Doug Barrowman.
The data appears in the latest edition of The Sunday Times Rich List which shows how Britain’s wealthy got wealthier during lockdown. It features a record 177 billionaires in the UK, six more than last year. Their combined wealth is £653bn, which is 9.4% up on the £55.8bn in 2021.
Robert Watts, the compiler of The Sunday Times Rich List, said: “Scotland’s richest people have fared less well than those elsewhere in the UK, with half of this year’s 10 Scottish billionaires seeing their fortunes fall over the past year. The combined wealth of the country’s 10 billionaires is still up, at nearly 2% on 2021.”
Wealthiest people in Scotland
| ScotlandRank | Name | Source of Wealth | 2022 Wealth | Wealth increase/ decrease |
| 1 | Anders Holch Povlsen | Fashion: Bestseller and Asos | £6.5bn | Up £500m |
| 2 | Glenn Gordon and family | Spirits: William Grant & Sons | £3.395 | Down £200m |
| 3 | Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and John Shaw and family | Pharmaceuticals: Biocon | £2.496bn | Down £446m |
| 4 | Sir Ian Wood and family | Oil services and fishing | £1.819bn | No change |
| 5 | Mohamed Al Fayed and family | Retailing: Harrods | £1.699bn | Down £1m |
| 6 | Mahdi al-Tajir | Metals, oil, and water: Highland Spring | £1.685bn | Down £2m |
| 7 | The Thomson family | Media: D C Thomson | £1.585bn | Up £314m |
| 8 | Sandy and James Easdale | Transport and property | £1.363bn | New entry |
| 9 | Lady Philomena Clark and family | Car sales: Arnold Clark | £1.267bn | Up £126m |
| 10 | Trond Mohn and Marit Mohn Westlake and family | Industry | £1.245m | Down £14m |
Top UK rich
