Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says UK colonised by immigrants with Nigel Farage claim
Sir Jim Ratcliffe believes Britain has been ‘colonised’ by immigrants and given his views on Sir Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage
Sir Jim Ratcliffe believes the UK has been colonised by immigrants (Image: (Screengrab))
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has claimed Britain has been “colonised” by immigrants, who are draining resources from the state. In an interview with Sky News, the part-owner of Manchester United opened up on why he believes Britain faces profound political, social and economic challenges.
Ratcliffe, who owns petrochemicals congress INEOS, also accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of being ‘too nice’. While he also opened up on a recent meeting he had with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
And in a warning to the county, Ratcliffe said: “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?”
Inaccurately, the billionaire then said: “I mean, the population of the UK was 58 million in 2020, now it’s 70 million. That’s 12 million people.”
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, while the UK population was estimated at 58.9 million in 2000.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe watching Manchester United against Tottenham (Image: Getty)
A defiant Starmer has insisted he will “never walk away” after coming under pressure to quit as Prime Minister earlier this week. The PM has been under mounting pressure over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, despite his friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
But Ratcliffe appeared to suggest Starmer might not be the right man for the top job, saying: “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.”
Asked about Reform UK leader Farage, Ratcliffe delivered a glowing endorsement, saying: “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.”
Ratcliffe, who splits his time between Hampshire and Monaco, also claimed he became “very unpopular” at Manchester United for making the “right” decisions.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has praised Nigel Farage (Image: Getty)
The 73-year-old has made a number of high-profile calls at Old Trafford since he acquired a 27.7% stake in United in December 2023 and assumed full control of the football operations in the following February. Among the changes Ratcliffe has made is axing more than 250 jobs to save an estimated £40million, but he believes: “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.”
He continued: “Well, 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.”
