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Manchester United owner and one of the richest men in Britain, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has claimed the UK has been “colonised by immigrants.”
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Ratcliffe, who sacked vast swathes of Manchester United employees upon taking over the club, hit out at the number of people on benefits as he warned Britain faces an economic and political crisis.

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

"I mean, the UK has been colonised. It's costing too much money.

mean, the population of the UK was 58 million in 2020, now it's 70 million. That's 12 million people."

These numbers are incorrect; Britain’s population was 67 million in 2020, according to the Office of National Statistics.

The last time 58 million people lived in Britain was the year 2000.

Taking aim at the Prime Minister, 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."
When pressed on Nigel Farage’s Downing Street hopes, the INEOS founder said: "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."

He compared running the country to running Manchester United, who had their lowest-ever Premier League finish last season.

"I've seen quite a bit of this at the football club,” he said.

“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."

"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."

https://images.lbc.co.uk/images/792038?crop=16_9&width=660&relax=1&format=webp&signature=3taWxHf8df1JH8eL1G5-fJonu-8=

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/02/11/britain-colonised-immigrants-man-utd-boss-jim-ratcliffe/

Mr. Ratcliffe lives in Monaco and has most of his businesses in Singapore.

olowoeyinkule1:
"I've seen quite a bit of this at the football club,” he said.

He makes it seem like the 9 or 12million on benefits are mostly immigrants when the facts suggest otherwise. But is he suggesting immigrants are Man U's problems too?

We blame our govt, there was once a time when Nigerians only went abroad for educational purposes, they always returned home when done because there was a place called ‘’home’’, unlike now when they do can anything just to stay even when clearly unwanted. Even the president spends more time abroad than he spends at home

Flangelo12:
Mr. Ratcliffe lives in Monaco and has most of his businesses in Singapore.

He is mr hypocritic

budaatum:
He makes it seem like the 9 or 12million on benefits are mostly immigrants when the facts suggest otherwise. But us he suggesting immigrants are Man U's problems too?

Your question is hilarious Onana, what's my name 🤭

Their governments will have to explain the reality of why immigrants are let in in the first place and why it was difficult for their people to raise a family and care for the family because of the cost!

blah blah blah
like its free to enter the uk
and like immigrants dont pay tax
how many immigrants are doing white collar jobs there...
its the dirty job your citizens cant do that immigrants do

AndroBlaze:
This is coming from a man who lives in Monaco to avoid paying taxes to the UK, while running businesses inn foreign lands where the UK once colonized.

Even his Man U sef, how many English players are in his starting 11??

When rich men control politics, it seems to always turn negative and hypocritical.

Are you minding him ,as if the immigrants don't work and contribute hugely the uk economy ..

AndroBlaze:
This is coming from a man who lives in Monaco to avoid paying taxes to the UK, while running businesses inn foreign lands where the UK once colonized.

Even his Man U sef, how many English players are in his starting 11??

When rich men control politics, it seems to always turn negative and hypocritical.

Don't mind him. His hypocrisy is mind numbing and he does not have a clue what he's saying, because if he believes himself he wouldn't let migrants play for his Man U!

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/12/jim-ratcliffe-accused-hypocrisy-uk-colonised-immigrants