BILLIONAIRE Inverclyde businessmen Sandy and James Easdale have moved up in the UK Rich List with their fortune now put at £1.425bn.

The 2023 Sunday Times list has revealed the 345 richest people in the UK.

The Easdale brothers saw a rise of three places on last year's position.

They are placed at 126, with an estimated worth of £1.425 billion, which is a £62 million year-on-year increase.

The McGill's Buses tycoons also own Blairs Windows, ARC Fleet Services, Clyde Metals and Inverclyde Taxis.

Their property investment operations are behind massive projects including the former IBM site in Greenock, another ex-industrial site in Fife and a housing development near Dumbarton.

Like last year, Danish retail tycoon Anders Holch Povlsen was named the richest person in Scotland.

He saw his fortune increase by £2 billion in the last year and is now worth £8.5 billion, compared to £6.5 billion last year.

The minimum wealth needed to be counted in the top 350 is £350 million.

Robert Watts, the compiler of the Sunday Times Rich List, said: "This year's Sunday Times Rich List shows that a golden period for the super-rich is over.

"For the first time in 14 years we've seen the number of UK billionaires fall.

"Two years ago we raised concerns about an unsettling boom in the fortunes of the very wealthy that continued unchecked during the political instability around Brexit and the pandemic.

"This is not a crash - but there are household names who have lost vast sums over the past year.

"The bursting of the tech bubble, the end of rock bottom interests and the jitters creeping through the banking industry have all taken their toll.

“The super-rich don't exist in a vacuum. Many small investors lost money in some of their overblown stock market floats. Many people also work for their businesses. Financial losses for billionaires can have implications for us all."