Minister Questions Jim Ratcliffes Patriotism Over Immigration Comments

A Labour minister has questioned Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe’s patriotism after he claimed “the UK is being colonised” by immigrants.

Jake Richards pointed out that Ratcliffe “has moved to Monaco to save £4-billion worth of tax” and suggested he should therefore be ignored.

Ratcliffe, who is also the founder and chairman of petro-chemical giants Ineos, told Sky News: “You can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in.

“I mean, the UK is being colonised. It’s costing too much money. The UK has been colonised by immigrants.”

He also wrongly claimed the UK’s population had increased by 12 million since 2020. The true figure is closer to three million.

Keir Starmer called Ratcliffe’s remarks “offensive and wrong” and said he should apologise.

On BBC Breakfast on Thursday morning, Richards, who is a justice minister, said Ratcliffe’s comments were “completely wrong”.

He said: “It’s completely absurd to suggest that our country is somehow being invaded or taken over by immigration.

“It’s offensive because many people come to this country, work incredibly hard, often in public services, especially our NHS and our social care, and to suggest that they are somehow coming here to take over is offensive too.”

The minister it was was “perfectly legitimate” for people to raise concerns about immigration, which the government had pledged to bring down.

But he added: “The way in which we talk about that, and the way in which we discuss and label immigrations and immigrants who come to our country and contribute has to be done very carefully.

“Jim Ratcliffe’s comments fail that test miserably, coupled with the fact that Jim Ratcliffe has moved to Monaco to save £4 billion-worth of tax in this country. One might question whether he is the patriot we need to comment on this issue.”

Ratcliffe did receive the backing of Liz Truss, who was forced to quit as prime minister after 49 days after crashing the economy.

She said: “Ratcliffe is right. Now let’s see him and fellow business leaders step up and help fix the country. We need their skills. In particular they need to replace the senior bureaucrats who have failed.”