Revealed: How Britain’s billionaire elite bought our democracy and replaced it with “structural corruption”
A new Equality Trust report warns political power has been captured by billionaires, press empires and party patrons
It is now official. Democracy in Britain—once hailed as the great equaliser, the fortress of citizen power—has been quietly ripped apart. Instead of “every vote counts”, what now counts is how much money you have, what media you own, and whether you belong to the secretive inner club of the unelected elite.
That is the explosive conclusion of the new report from Equality Trust which reveals that political influence in the UK has been hijacked by an obscene minority.
Since the turn of the millennium the British political system has morphed into a grotesque oligarchy where vast wealth now buys not just influence, but legislative power and media dominance. According to the report, the 156 billionaires in the UK now hold £619.5 billion, the same as millions of the rest of us combined.
And their treasure doesn’t sit idle—it converts, sneaks into political donations, media empires, and unelected seats in Parliament’s upper house, the House of Lords.
The mechanics of capture
Donations, not democracy: Large political donations over £250,000 skyrocketed from a modest £7.6 million in 2002 to a staggering £47 million by 2019. These mega-donors are now the lifeblood of the major parties. As the report says, the parties have become structurally indebted to a tiny pool of wealthy individuals.
Peers-for-sale: That same cash increasingly buys more than influence—it buys you a seat in the Lords. Between 2001 and 2022, the “eligible” membership of the unelected House swelled from around 676 to 803. Those who fund the parties—or who simply belong to the right circles—are rewarded with life peerages. Democracy? Dead in the water.
Media silence, media control: The national press—once a supposed plurality of voices—is now an oligopoly owned by just three conglomerates. Their share of total newspaper circulation rose from 71% in 2014 to around 90% in 2022. The so-called “billionaire press” now steers public opinion, frames debate, and protects the interests of its own class, while drowning out any dissenting or working-class voice.
A feedback loop of power and poverty
It should shock the conscience that a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals not only hold more financial wealth than tens of millions, but also write the rules by which the rest of us live. The report charts a near-perfect correlation between rising wealth inequality (top 1% share) and growing unelected influence, while income inequality barely budged.
In short: this is not about “hardworking millionaires”—it is about a class that inherits, hoards, and perpetuates power, unaccountable to voters or taxpayers. Over 20 years, what was once occasional influence has become structural dominance.
And the impact on everyday Britons is sickeningly clear: stagnating wages, sky-high house prices, chronic underinvestment in public services, and political resistance to any genuinely redistributive reforms. The system is rigged—deliberately—to preserve the fortunes of the few at the expense of the many.
Legalised corruption
The authors don’t mince words: what’s happening in the UK is “structural corruption”. It’s not about a rogue MP pocketing cash under the table—it’s about systemic capture, baked into the bones of our institutions. The media—the supposed watchdog—is no longer independent. The Lords—the second chamber meant to review legislation—is a playground for donors. And political parties answer not to voters, but to those who sign the cheques.
If we truly value democracy, it’s time to call this what it is: a scandal. Ordinary citizens have been disenfranchised. Our vote, our voice, our concerns—from housing to wages to pollution—are overridden by corporate press barons and cheque-book peers. It’s a betrayal of everything democracy was supposed to stand for.
And until we demand radical reforms—wealth taxation, limits on political donations, a leaner, elected House, and a media that speaks for the many, not the wealthy—this betrayal will continue, and we will never build Our Fair Future.