Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has claimed that Britain has been ‘colonised’ by immigrants he says are ‘costing too much money’.
The 73-year-old businessman also questioned whether Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is the right man to lead the country forward, arguing ‘he may be too nice’.
‘You can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in,’ the Englishman told Sky News.
‘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.
He added: ‘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 population of the UK was estimated to have been 70 million in mid-2024, according to the Office of National Statistics, three million higher than that recorded during 2020.
Sir Keir Starmer has come under mounting pressure and this week endured the toughest stint of 18 months in office amid the scandal which saw Lord Peter Mandelson resign from government.
He faced calls to resign from opposition leaders and, in a damning turn of events, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar on Monday.
But at a meeting with his Parliamentary Labour Party later that evening, the Prime Minister affirmed that he has no intentions to walk away after receiving backing from both Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves.
