UK government borrowing costs have jumped at the start of trading, and the pound has fallen, as City traders respond to the news that Andy Burnham now has a chance to become Labour’s next leader.

UK bond prices have dropped at the start of trading, which pushes up the yield (or interest rate) on these gilts, while the pound has dropped against the US dollar.

Yesterday, Burnham was handed a potential route back to parliament when Josh Simons, MP for Makerfield, announced that he is resigning to free up a seat for Burnham.

Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, confirmed he would ask Labour’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) to allow him to stand in the contest. Allies of Starmer confirmed that he would not seek to block him.

Should he win and return to parliament, Burnham appears to be in a strong position to challenge Keir Starmer for the leadership of the Labour Party.

Yesterday, UK bond yields hit their lowest level since Monday after health secretary Wes Streeting failed to launch a leadership challenge as he quit the cabinet.

This morning, the yield on UK 10-year bond is up 11 basis points (0.11 of a percentage point) to 5.11%, suggesting concerns that the UK could aim to borrow more under a new prime minister.

Thirty-year bond yields are up 11 bps too to 5.76% – not far from the 28-year high of 5.81% hit on Tuesday.

Other government bond yields (such as the US and Japan) are rising too this morning, but UK borrowing costs are moving somewhat more sharply.

The pound has hit its lowest level in five weeks, down more than half a cent at one point to $1.333.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, says:

Plans to topple the Prime Minister have now burst into the open. Wes Streeting resigned from government, but did not announce a leadership challenge directly, as he waits for others to join the race. Andy Burnham is now expected to run in a byelection to pave a long and winding route to number 10, and Angela Raynor is also expected to run in any leadership race. Kier Starmer is also expected to stand. There is no timeline for a contest, so the current prime minister is now a lame duck indefinitely.

The pound is weakening this morning after a sharp drop on Thursday, when Andy Burnham threw his hat into the ring. GBP/USD is currently trading at $1.3350, a loss of 1.5% this week. This is a sign that Burnham is the least market-friendly of all the candidates, as Wes Streeting’s resignation did not have the same negative effect on the pound.

This year’s rich list is another “smack in the face” for millions of ordinary people battling an ever-worsening cost of living crisis, says Phil White, member of Patriotic Millionaires UK.

White:

The fact the number of billionaires has risen to 157 and their wealth has grown to £784 billion is outrageous, while one in five kids are living in poverty, small businesses are going under, and services are crippled by underinvestment.

Right now, it feels like the Rich List is a running total of everything that is wrong in our society—a handful of people counting obscene amounts of wealth while everyone else scrapes by. It’s blindingly obvious, to anyone paying attention, that we need to do something about this.

We need to give Brits a fighting chance to start living; not just surviving.

Earlier this week, Patriotic Millionaires UK reported that nine in 10 UK millionaires are proud to live in Britain and three-quarters would be willing to pay more tax to ensure public assets get the funding they need.

The TUC points out that the number of billionaires has doubled since 2010 while real wages have pretty much stagnated over the period.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said:

Under the Conservatives, the wealthiest were allowed to feather their nests while working people suffered an epidemic of insecure work and the worst pay stagnation in two centuries. Clearly wealth has not trickled down – it has been hoarded by those at the top.

“This isn’t right. With ordinary people struggling to pay the bills, it’s time for billionaires to pay their fair share in tax to protect households and firms from the effects of Donald Trump’s illegal war.

“People have had it with a system where those with the broadest shoulders don’t pull their weight.”

Author JK Rowling is rising towards billionaire status.

The Harry Potter creater’s wealth has risen to £975m from £945m in 2025.

The new TV adaptation of the boy wizard’s antics should keep the royalties rolling in for Rowling, who also writes fiction for adults under the “Robert Galbraith” pseudonym.

The Sunday Times estimate that Rowling has earned more than £1bn from her writing, and the original eight Harry Potter films. But her “vast charitable donations, including to refuges for women fleeing domestic violence” mean she’s not quite got billionaire status yet (one Ascendio spell should do the trick, though…)

Oasis musicians Noel and Liam Gallagher have strode onto the rich list stage, with a combined fortune of….definitely, maybe…£375m.

This follows their successful reunion tour last year, which pulled in almost £400m. The Sunday Times says this has “provided the perfect warm-up act for a sale of the group’s song rights”.

New billionaires this year include Sir David and Victoria Beckham.

The Beckham’s fortune has more than doubled in the last year, up to £1.185bn from £500m in 2025.

Part of the increase is due to David’s stake in US football club Inter Miami – bought for $25m and now worth £300m.

The property complex built around Nu Stadium, Inter’s Miami’s base, is another factor, The Sunday Times explains:

The 131-acre Freedom Park development encompasses shops, offices, restaurants, and parkland and residential homes. The Beckhams’ investment here should be worth another £370 million.

As well as property, Victoria’s fashion brand is another valuable asset.

Sources close to Neo Investment Partners, which co-owns the business, have suggestede it is worth £375m – meaning the Beckham’s 35% stake is worth an estimated £130m.

Not every billionaire grew wealthier last year – sirs James Dyson and Jim Ratcliffe are among the big fallers.

Dyson’s estimated fortune has been slashed by £8.8bn to £12bn, due to lower revenues at his electricals empire, partly due to Donald Trump’s tariffs. This has pulled Dyson and family down to 13th on the list, from 4th last year.

Ratcliffe, who owns chemicals giant Ineos (and a stake in Manchester United), has fallen from 7th to 9th on the list, after his wealth was cut by £1.85bn to almost £15.2bn.

Ineos has been hit by “a prolonged downturn in demand and tough competition from cheap imports”, leading to rising debt and a loss last year.

A new name has appeared on the Rich List Top Ten this year – Christopher Harborne.

According to The Sunday Times Rich List, the Thailand-based investor’s estimated wealth of over £18bn makes him the wealthiest British-born entrepreneur.

Robert Watts, who compiles the list, has placed Harborne 6th overall after analysing the “diverse range of businesses owned by the Yorkshire-born investor”.

Much of Harborne’s estimated wealth comes from his stake in Tether, the cryptocurrency firm which issues stablecoins. Tether has been valued at $200bn, based on the private sales of shares in the company. Harborne owns 12% — giving a stake worth £17.7bn.

Watts writes:

Harborne, 63, has lived in Thailand for nearly 30 years. Many of his companies are based in countries where obligations to report profits, revenues and other financial information are less onerous than in the UK. This has long posed significant challenges for anyone trying to assess his personal fortune.

His easiest to identify asset in the UK is his holding in QinetiQ, a Hampshire-based defence contractor listed on the London stock market and a member of the FTSE 250 index. Harborne is the biggest shareholder in the company, owning a 14.2 per cent stake that was worth £357 million when the Rich List was compiled.

Watts also cites Harborne’s ownership of IFX Payments, a money transfer operation based in the heart of the City of London, and reports that he also owns Eclipse Aerospace, a private jet maker based in Albuquerque.

But… that £18bn could be an understatement, Watts adds, as some of Harborne’s companies and assets are very hard to value.

Harborne hit the headlines last month after the Guardian reported he had given Nigel Farage £5m in 2024, which is now being investigated by the parliamentary standards watchdog.

Farage, incidentally, has claimed Tether could be worth $500bn, which would indicate Harborne’s stake could be worth £44bn!

Last year, the businessman donated £9m to Reform UK, the largest single donation by a living person to a British political party. In total, he gave £12m to the party in 2025.

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.

Britain wealthiest people have grown even rich over the last year.

The latest Sunday Times Rich List has just been published, showing that the combined wealth of the UK’s 350 wealthiest individuals and families rose by 1.4% in the last year to £784bn.

Britain’s total of billionaires has inched up by just one, to 157. After peaking at 177 in 2022, the billionaire count had fallen for three years running.

And while this huge wealth pile could intensify calls for sharper taxes on the rich, the Rich List also shows some evidence that billionaires have left the country to avoid wealth taxes.

Robert Watts, compiler of the Rich List, explains:

“This year’s Rich List is a tale of two exoduses. One in six of the individuals and families who appeared on the list two years ago don’t feature this time.

“Many foreign billionaires who have been living in the UK have also dropped out because they have moved away. We have also seen a sharp rise in the number of British nationals now resident in Dubai, Switzerland and Monaco. As UK nationals these people remain on our Rich List - wherever they now live.

“These two exoduses pose challenges for the UK economy and its public finances. Will more of the wealthy now set up or grow their ventures overseas and in doing so create fewer jobs here? How much tax – if any – will Rachel Reeves’ Treasury be able to extract from those affluent Brits who have now left the country.”

Topping the list, again, are the Hinduja family, worth £38bn through their Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group. This year, the award is shared by “Sanjay and Dheeraj Hinduja and family”, after the head of Britain’s richest family, Gopichand Hinduja, died last November.

Other notable names on the top ten are the Reuben family, for their property interests, the Weston family (whose AB Foods business owns Primark), crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne (of which more in a moment) and Revolut co-founder Nik Storonksy.

Here’s the top 10:

• Sanjay and Dheeraj Hinduja and family: £38bn

• David and Simon Reuben and family: £27.971bn

• Sir Leonard Blavatnik: £26.852bn

• Idan Ofer: £24.481bn: £24.481bn

• Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and family: £18.939bn

• Christopher Harborne: £18.177bn

• Nik Storonsky: £16.411bn

• Alex Gerko: £16.006bn

• Sir Jim Ratcliffe: £15.194bn

• Igor and Dmitry Bukhman: £14.26bn

The rankings are based on estimated wealth as of April 24, 2026.

To get onto the list (onto 350th place) you need £340m – a drop of £10m, which Watts calls “another indicator of the sluggish economic environment.”

The agenda

• 1.30pm BST: NY Empire State manufacturing index

• 2.15pm BST: US industrial production report for April

• 5pm BST: Russian GDP and inflation report