Manchester United co-owner slammed for claiming UK 'colonised' by migrants

Manchester United's co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has sparked outrage for claiming that Britain has been "colonised" by immigrants.

Ratcliffe, who lives in tax-free Monaco and is the UK's seventh-richest man, spoke against immigration and cited false statistics in an interview with Sky News on Wednesday.

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

"The UK is being colonised by immigrants, really, isn’t it? I mean, the population of the UK was 58 million in 2020, now it’s 70 million. That’s 12 million people."

Ratcliffe was 10 million off. According to the Office for National Statistics, the population of the UK was close to 58 million at the turn of the century but was 67 million in 2020. 

The billionaire was slammed on Wednesday night by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called his claim "offensive and wrong" and insisted "Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country".

Ratcliffe apologised on Thursday, saying: "I am sorry that my choice of language has offended some people in the UK and Europe." 

But he added: "It is important to raise the issue of controlled and well-managed immigration that supports economic growth."

'Inaccurate, insulting, inflammatory'

Ratcliffe has faced a barrage of criticism from his own football club's supporters.

Ali Milani, the chair of the Labour Muslim network told Middle East Eye: "As a Manchester United season ticket holder, I can confidently say that the only 'colonisation' that has happened here is the 'colonisation' of one of the world’s biggest football clubs by unwelcome billionaire owners.

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"This football club has a proud tradition of diverse, open, and welcoming fanbase. If Jim Ratcliffe spent less time in Monaco, and more in Manchester, that is something he may have learnt."

The Manchester United Muslim Supporters Club (MUMSC) criticised Ratcliffe for adopting “language frequently used in far-right narratives”.

Meanwhile Reform UK leader Nigel Farage dismissed criticism of Ratcliffe, saying: "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."

The Football Association said it was reviewing whether Ratcliffe's remarks had brought the game into disrepute.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, described Ratcliffe's comments as “inaccurate, insulting, inflammatory”.

In his apology, the billionaire said: "My comments were made while answering questions about UK policy at the European Industry Summit in Antwerp, where I was discussing the importance of economic growth, jobs, skills and manufacturing in the UK.

"My intention was to stress that governments must manage migration alongside investment in skills, industry and jobs so that long-term prosperity is shared by everyone.

"It is critical that we maintain an open debate on the challenges facing the UK.”