In an inflammatory rant, Manchester United part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe hit out at ‘huge levels of immigrants coming in’ and said too many people are on benefits in the UK
Keir Starmer has slammed Sir Jim Ratcliffe after he claimed the UK has been “colonised by immigrants”.
The PM branded the Manchester United part-owner’s comments “offensive” and called on him to apologise. In a post on social media, Mr Starmer said: “Offensive and wrong. Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country. Jim Ratcliffe should apologise.”
In an inflammatory rant earlier today, Sir Jim, who lives in tax-free Monaco, hit out at “huge levels of immigrants coming in” and said too many people are on benefits in the UK. The billionaire is ranked the seventh wealthiest person in Britain in the Sunday Times’s rich list, with a £17billion fortune.
Sir Jim, who is the founder of the INEOS chemicals group, told Sky News: “You can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in.
“I mean, the UK has been colonised. It’s costing too much money. The UK has been colonised by immigrants, really, hasn’t it? I mean, the population of the UK was 58 million in 2020, now it’s 70 million. That’s 12 million people.”
The population of the UK at mid-year 2020 was estimated to be 67.1 million and 69.3 million people in 2024. It was last at 58 million in 2000, more than 25 years ago.
READ MORE: Sir Jim Ratcliffe claims UK has been ‘colonised by immigrants’ in extraordinary rant
In his interview, Sir Jim also said he had recently met Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and said he thinks “he’s got good intentions”. He questioned whether Keir Starmer was up to the top job or whether he was “too nice”.
Labour MP Alex Sobel, whose parents came to England from Israel, hit out at the “outrageous” comments. He said: “My parents came to this country in the 1970s, contributing hugely as educators, business people, and volunteers in the community. Across this country, immigrants have contributed and enriched our culture.”
The MP for Leeds Central and Headingley added: “These are outrageous and inflammatory remarks from an out of touch multi millionaire businessman who clearly has no empathy with hard-pressed families. To seek to stigmatise immigrants and welfare claimants in this way is shameful.”
And Labour MP Stella Creasy said: “Without immigrants Man U’s starting line up last night would have been three players and the bench would have consisted of just two. Ratcliffe doesn’t seem to understand the contribution they make to his own team, let alone this country – but then as he is an immigrant himself being resident of Monaco rather than Manchester there’s obviously a lot of things he’s not thought through…”
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she was proud that Britain is a diverse country. She said: “I think this country has many challenges, one of which is we haven’t invested in the skills of young people growing up for a very long time so that they can get those really great jobs. In many sectors, we are just reliant every year on bringing people in from outside.
“My dad comes from an immigrant background. I want your viewers to know that I am really proud that Britain is a diverse and tolerant country that is strengthened by waves of immigration.
“But you can’t have a system where we’re taking talent away from other countries because successive governments haven’t been bothered to invest in our own young people, and we are turning that around.”
She added that Sir Jim was “right” to say there were too many people who had been written off and were living on benefits. The Cabinet minister said: “I think he is right to say that there are too many people who we’ve written off, not allowed to make the contribution that they could make to this country, and we are particularly concerned about that as a government, especially when it comes to young people.”
She added that anyone who desperately needs the welfare state “will always have the support and protection they need”. The Labour government last year attempted to push through welfare reforms but faced a major rebellion from MPs over plans to cut disability benefits. The Government was forced to gut its plans in July after a massive Labour revolt. It is now undertaking a major review of disability benefits in the hope it can relaunch a future package of reforms.
Ged Grebby, chief executive of “Show Racism the Red Card”, said that Sir Jim was “perpetuating myths” about immigration. He told the Mirror: “I couldn’t agree more with the people who have commented on the hypocrisy of these remarks, coming from a man who lives in Monaco as a tax exile.
“And then there is the ignorance of his views on immigration. Analysis shows that the vast majority of immigrants are young people who work and contribute to the economy because they want to make a better life for themselves. So his views on that are nonsense. He is perpetuating the myths about immigration; you just have to look at the NHS and social services to see how much immigrants contribute to the UK economy.
“It is frustrating; for ‘Show Racism the Red Card’, Manchester United are one of the best clubs. Yet we have the owner making cheap remarks like this. I know that Sir Alex Ferguson would say the exact opposite, he knows how much immigrants have contributed to life here. Unison is doing important work on migrant labour as they have contributed to a big increase in their membership.”
Meanwhile, football’s anti-discrimination body Kick It Out described Sir Jim’s comments as “disgraceful” while declaring that “this type of language and leadership has no place in English football.” They said: “Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s comments are disgraceful and deeply divisive at a time when football does so much to bring communities together.
“In addition to the inaccurate figures mentioned, it’s worth reminding him that Manchester United has a diverse fan base and plays in a city whose cultural history has been enriched by immigrants. This type of language and leadership has no place in English football, and we believe most fans will feel the same.”
The ’58 fan group, which describes itself as largest independent Manchester United fan coalition, described Sir Jim’s comments as “very ill advised”, saying in a statement: “Once again a total embarrassment whether in front of a camera or being interviewed. Commenting on the issues of our country while living in Monaco to avoid paying tax is bad enough. However, his comments on Manchester United are particularly worrying.”
They added: “If he cannot see the reasons why he’s unpopular then he is completely deluded. Completely out of touch with the core fan base that made our club what it is today.”
Responding to the PM’s comments criticising Sir Jim’s remarks, Nigel Farage wrote on X: “Britain has undergone unprecedented mass immigration that has changed the character of many areas in our country. Labour may try to ignore that but Reform won’t.”
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