Starmer tells Jim Ratcliffe to apologise for saying UK ‘colonised’ by immigrants | Jim Ratcliffe
Keir Starmer said Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe should apologize for his comments that England was “colonised” by immigrants.
Britain’s seventh richest man said in an interview with Sky News on Wednesday. WHO The company, which moved to tax-free Monaco in 2020, targeted people receiving state support and immigrants.
“You can’t afford it… You can’t have an economy where 9 million people benefit from social assistance and many immigrants come,” he said. “The UK is actually being colonized by immigrants, isn’t it?
“So the population of England was 58 million in 2020, now it is 70 million. That’s 12 million people.”
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show Ratcliffe’s claim is false. The ONS estimates the UK’s population was 67 million in 2020, last down from close to 58 million in 2000.
Responding to the allegations, the prime minister posted on X on Wednesday evening: “Offensive and wrong. Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country. Jim Ratcliffe must apologize.”
A Downing Street spokesman added that Ratcliffe’s comments “play into the hands of those who want to divide our country” and called on him to apologize “immediately”.
The response was in stark contrast to culture secretary Lisa Nandy, who told Sky News that Ratcliffe was “right to say that too many people have been written off, that they are not allowed to make the contribution they could to this country.”
Claiming that both illegal and legal immigration was too high when the Conservatives were in power, he said people deserved an immigration system they “can trust”.
Ratcliffe’s criticism of the number of people on benefits comes just after the government handed out a £120 million grant to protect 500 jobs at chemical company Ineos, on which its £17 billion fortune is largely based.
The billionaire, who shifted his tax residency to Monaco in 2020, is no stranger to getting into politics, vocally supporting Brexit and lobbying against green taxes and in favor of fracking.
In an interview at the European Industry Summit in Antwerp, he compared Starmer’s performance to Reform leader Nigel Farage, whom he said he had met recently and whom he described as a “smart guy”.
Ratcliffe said he knew Starmer and added: “I don’t know if it’s just the apparatus that won’t let Keir do this or if he’s a very nice guy; I mean, Keir is a good guy. I like him but it’s a tough job and I think you’ve got to do some tough things with the UK to get this back on track because I don’t think the economy is in a good place at the moment.”
He said Farage “is an intelligent man and I think he means well.” “But in a way, you could say the same for Keir when he comes in. I think he needs someone who is prepared to be unpopular for a while to solve the big problems.”
Responding to the billionaire’s claims that the UK was “colonised by immigrants”, Farage told Sky News: “The country has experienced unprecedented mass immigration which has changed the character of many parts of the country. Labor can try and ignore that but Reform will not.”
Ratcliffe compared the changes he made at Manchester United, including mass redundancies and the appointment and subsequent dismissal of Ruben Amorim, to running the country. He told Sky News he was “unpopular” but the changes were starting to bear fruit.
“But you’re facing the same problems as the country. If you really want to deal with the fundamental issues of immigration, if you want people choosing to get benefits rather than working for a living,” he said, the government “will have to do some unpopular things and show some courage.”
