Man United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe claims UK has been ‘colonised by immigrants’
Billionaire Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe sparked controversy when he said England was “colonised by immigrants”.
The businessman, who has been living in Monaco tax-free since 2020, is the founder and chairman of Ineos, one of the world’s largest chemicals companies, which last year received £120 million in government aid from the UK to protect jobs.
In an interview with Sky News on Wednesday, Mr Ratcliffe said immigration was “very costly” due to the number of people “receiving assistance”.
“You can’t have an economy where nine million people are receiving aid and a lot of immigrants are coming,” he said. “So the United Kingdom is being colonized. It costs a lot. The United Kingdom has been colonized by immigrants.”
He then went on to share questionable information regarding population statistics in the United Kingdom.
“So the population of England was 58 million in 2020, now it is 70 million,” he said. “That’s 12 million people.”
The Office for National Statistics estimates the UK’s population was 67 million in 2020, last approaching 58 million in 2000, a quarter of a century ago.
Muslim Manchester United Fans The group said it was “deeply concerned” “Such rhetoric has real-world consequences,” the comments read.
He said that although Ineos employs more than 26,000 people at 194 sites in 29 countries around the world, addressing “fundamental issues around immigration” and people choosing benefits over work would require “unpopular” actions and “courage”.
Mr Ratcliffe was one of the most vocal advocates of Brexit before subsequently moving to Monaco.
While Prime Minister Keir Starmer resisted calls to resign amid criticism over the latest release of the Epstein files, citing a “fight against Reform UK”, Mr Ratcliffe said Sir Keir was “very good”.
“I don’t know if it’s just the device that doesn’t allow Keir to do this or if he’s a very nice guy, so Keir is a good guy,” he said. “I love it but it’s a tough job and I think you have to do some tough things to get things going with the UK because I don’t think the economy is in a good place at the moment.”
He described Reform England leader Nigel Farage as a “well-intentioned” and “intelligent man”, acknowledging that similar sentiments had been expressed about Sir Keir as he entered government.
“I think it takes someone who is prepared to be unpopular for a while to solve the big problems,” he concluded.
He compared his experience of managing Manchester United to turning the country around and declared that he too was “unpopular” at the beginning of his tenure.
Sir Jim acquired a minority stake in Manchester United in late 2023, with the Ineos group subsequently assuming control of the club’s football operations.
His tenure has seen a number of controversial changes, particularly regarding ticket pricing and availability, that have sparked widespread anger from United fans.
