Hindujas among Britain’s top three richest families

Srichand Hnduja (left) and Gopichand Hinduja.

The Hinduja brothers have emerged the third richest family in Britain, as part of an analysis of the divide between the rich and poor in the United Kingdom.

According to research published by the charity, Oxfam, here on Monday, the latest rich list from Forbes magazine showed that London-based Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja have a combined wealth of $10 billion.

The five top U.K. entries analysed for its

A Tale of Two Britains report found the family of the Duke of Westminster the richest followed by David and Simon Reuben, the Hindujas, the Cadogan family, and Sports Direct retail boss Mike Ashley who, between them, had property, savings and other assets worth £28.2 billion.

It implies that the country’s five richest families now own more wealth than the poorest 20 per cent of the population, with their wealth totalling £28.1 billion — an average of £2,230 each.

The development anti-poverty charity said the U.K. government should explore the possibility of a wealth tax after revealing how income gains and the benefits of rising asset prices had disproportionately helped those at the top.

“Britain is becoming a deeply divided nation, with a wealthy elite who are seeing their incomes spiral up, while millions of families are struggling to make ends meet,” said Oxfam’s director of campaigns and policy, Ben Phillips. “It’s deeply worrying that these extreme levels of wealth inequality exist in Britain today, where just a handful of people have more money than millions struggling to survive on the breadline.”

The report asserts that widening inequality is creating a “vicious circle where wealth and power are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, leaving the rest behind.”