COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

...says INEOS boss and Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe



Britain has been "colonised" by immigrants, who are draining resources from the state, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, one of the country's richest and most influential men, has told Sky News.

Sir Jim, the founder of the INEOS chemicals group and part-owner of Manchester United, warned that Britain faces profound political, social and economic challenges, among them an unprecedented rise in immigration in recent years.

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

In his interview with Sky News, Sir Jim - who is a resident of Monaco - signalled that Sir Keir might not be the right man for the top job, saying: "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 chemicals boss said he had met recently with Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, saying of him: "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."

Sir Jim continued: "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."

Sir Jim was talking on the fringes of the European Industry Summit in Antwerp, at which leaders from many of Europe's biggest economies, including France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Friedrich Merz, are meeting with industrialists to discuss the fate of its economy.