Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe rants that the UK has been “colonised” by immigrants who “cost too much money” and are bleeding the state.
The owner of Manchester United has claimed Britain has been “colonised” by immigrants who “cost too much money” and are bleeding the state. Outspoken Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the founder of the INEOS chemicals group and a part owner of the resurgent Red Devils, reckons the nation faces massive social challenges as the result of an immigration influx.
Sir Jim, one of the country’s richest men, claimed the UK will struggle with massive economic problems and political chaos as more pressure piles on the welfare state to care for incoming foreigners.
He said: “You can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in. “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.”
He’s also not sure Labour leader, PM Sir Keir Starmer, is the right man to change things around. Sir Jim said: “I don’t know whether it’s just the apparatus that hasn’t allowed Keir to do it or, or he’s maybe too nice – I mean, Keir is a nice man.
“I like him, but it’s a tough job and I think you have to do some difficult things with the UK to get it back on track, because at the moment I don’t think the economy is in a good state.”
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) estimates that the population of the UK was 67 million in mid-2020 and 70 million in mid-2024. The UK population was estimated at 58.9 million in 2000.
The chemicals boss said he had met recently with Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, and told Sky News: “I think Nigel is an intelligent man, and, I think he’s got good intentions. “But in a way, you could say exactly the same about Keir Starmer.
“I think it needs somebody who’s prepared to be unpopular for a period of time to get the big issues sorted out.” He compared it with the turnaround he’s had to endure at United. He said: “I’ve seen quite a bit of this at the football club.
“If you do difficult things, which we felt that we had to do at Manchester United… we felt like they were the right things to do. “But you do become very unpopular for a while.
“I’ve been very unpopular at Manchester United because we’ve made lots of changes. But for the better, in my view. And I think we’re beginning to see some evidence in the football club that that’s beginning to pay off. But you’ve got all the same issues with the country.
“If you really want to deal with the major issues of immigration, with people opting to take benefits rather than working for a living, if you want to deal with that, then you’re going to have to do some things which are unpopular, and show some courage.”
He was talking on the fringes of the European Industry Summit in Antwerp, at which leaders from many of Europe’s biggest economies, including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Friedrich Merz, are meeting with industrialists to discuss the fate of its economy.