'UK has been colonised by immigrants', says INEOS boss and Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe

Britain has been "colonised" by immigrants, who are draining resources from the state, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, one of the country's richest and most influential men, has told Sky News.

Sir Jim, the founder of the INEOS chemicals group and part-owner of Manchester United, warned that Britain faces profound political, social and economic challenges, among them an unprecedented rise in immigration in recent years.

"You can't have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in," he said. "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 Office for 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.

Sir Keir Starmer responded to Sir Jim's remarks on immigration, saying they were "offensive and wrong".

"Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country," the prime minister added. "Jim Ratcliffe should apologise."

In his interview with Sky News, Sir Jim - who is a resident of Monaco - signalled that Sir Keir 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."

The chemicals boss said he had met recently with Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, saying of him: "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."

Referring to his role at Manchester United, Sir Jim added: "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."

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Sir Jim 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."

Sir Jim 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.

The summit comes amid a spate of closures across the European chemicals sector, closures that indicate, in the INEOS founder's view, that the European chemicals sector is facing "unsurvivable conditions".

Reacting to Sir Jim's comments to Sky News, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky's Matt Barbet on the Politics Hub that migration - both legal and illegal - was too high under the Conservatives, and that people want to see those arriving "making a contribution" and "not doing that at the expense" of a government that isn't investing in young people.

But she continued: "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."

She added: "I'd be more than happy to speak to him about what we're doing."

(c) Sky News 2026: 'UK has been colonised by immigrants', says INEOS boss and Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe