The battle over whether Britain should be in or out of the European Union was funded mostly by multimillionaires, according to an analysis by the team behind The Sunday Times Rich List.

Those on the forthcoming list, which features only people worth £110m or more, accounted for 71% of loans and donations to the “leave” and “remain” campaigns in the five months leading up to the vote last June.

Almost two-thirds of the cash that bankrolled the successful Brexit campaign came from just five of the country’s richest businessmen.

The quintet together channelled nearly £14.9m to Brexit-backing campaign groups. Eurosceptic organisations received a total of £24.1m in donations and loans between February 1 and polling day from all sources.

The “Brexit Big Five” are headed