Hannah Ponting, Liverpool North Socialist Party
The Sunday Times has released its annual ‘rich list’, which sees the country’s wealthiest families, billionaires, property owners, cryptocurrency investors and hedge fund managers paraded across its front pages like celebrities.
Over the last year, the combined wealth of the UK’s richest 350 individuals rose by 1.4% to £784 billion.
Top of the list is Dheeraj Hinduja and Sanjay Hinduja, finding themselves at the top of the UK’s annual wealth ranking for a fifth consecutive year. Their combined net worth is £38 billion! Dheeraj chairs Gulf Oil International, while Sanjay oversees the automotive giant Ashok Leyland. The family owns businesses operating in 48 countries across industries including oil, gas, banking and transport.
They also own a 25-bedroom mansion! Meanwhile, more than 1.3 million households remain on waiting lists for council homes across the UK.
These obscene levels of inequality aren’t just a mistake, but are features of an economic system run in the interests of profit instead of need. Capitalism allows a tiny minority to accumulate vast fortunes while the overwhelming majority are left to deal with the consequences.
The people in the pages of the Sunday Times have multiple parties that will represent their interests. When the Labour Party accepts more donations from big business than from trade unions, it’s clear whose interests it represents.
To break out the wealth that is currently being hoarded by the super-rich and use it to provide for us all, we need a party that will represent the interests of the working class. The impact such a party would have would be massive.
For instance, if councillors were prepared to use their existing reserves, 5,000 council homes could be built in Liverpool and 15,000 in Manchester alone, right now. Councillors that stand on the side of the working class would send the bill to Starmer’s government, and build mass campaigns to demand the resources to provide the services residents need.
Trade unions remain the largest voluntary organisations in the country, with a combined membership of more than 6.5 million people. The trade union movement should take the lead in building a new party rooted in working-class interests and armed with a socialist programme. A programme to take the wealth, power and resources out of the hands of the super-rich capitalist elite and run society democratically, providing for all not for profits would abolish the billionaires and make them yesterday’s news.
