PM tells Sir Jim Ratcliffe to apologise for saying 'UK has been colonised'

Sir Keir Starmer has labelled comments about immigration made by billionaire Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe as "offensive and wrong".

Sir Jim, the founder of the INEOS chemicals group, told Sky News on Wednesday that the UK had been "colonised by immigrants" and suggested the prime minister was "too nice" to do "difficult things" to stabilise the country's economy.

In his rebuke on Wednesday evening, Sir Keir added that Britain was "a proud, tolerant and diverse country" and called on Sir Jim to apologise.

A spokesperson for No 10 also called on the businessman to apologise, saying the comments "play into the hands of those who want to divide our country".

The BBC has approached Ineos and Manchester United for comment in regards to Sir Jim's remarks.

Sir Jim told the broadcaster: "You can't have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in."

He added: "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."

Data from the Office for National Statistics estimates that the UK's population in mid-2025 was 69.4 million, compared to 66.7 million in mid-2020.

Sir Jim made the comments during an interview with Sky News' economic editor Ed Conway, on the fringes of the European Industry Summit in Antwerp, Belgium.

The remarks have also been condemned by Manchester United Muslim Supporters Club (MUMSC) and anti-racism educational organisations Show Racism the Red Card and Kick It Out.

MUMSC said it was "deeply concerned" by the remarks, adding that the term colonised "is not neutral".

"It echoes language frequently used in far-right narratives that frame migrants as invaders and demographic threats," it added.

Show Racism the Red Card said the cultural influence held by football clubs "should be used to challenge racism, not inadvertently amplify narratives that undermine community harmony".

Kick It Out said the comments were "disgraceful and deeply divisive".

The 1958 Group of Manchester United supporters described the comments as "very ill-advised", and criticised Sir Jim for "commenting on the issues of our country while living in Monaco to avoid paying tax".

The 73-year-old said politicians needed to be "prepared to be unpopular for a period of time to get the big issues sorted out".

Sir Jim has restructured United since acquiring a 27.7% stake in 2024, making 450 redundancies, overhauling senior management and sacking two managers.

He said although some of his decisions have been unpopular, he has had to make them "to get the big issues sorted out".

"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," said Sir Jim.

He added: "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."

Speaking about the prime minister, Sir Jim said: "It's a tough job, and I think you have to do some difficult things with the UK to get it back on track."

Sir Jim said that he met with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage recently, and described him as an "intelligent man" with "good intentions", but added that "in a way, you could say exactly the same about Keir when Keir came in".

"I think it needs somebody who's prepared to be unpopular for a period of time to get the big issues sorted out," he added.

In response to Sir Keir's condemnation of the comments, Farage said on X: "Britain has undergone unprecedented mass immigration that has changed the character of many areas in our country.

"Labour may try to ignore that but Reform won't."