The prime minister has told Sir Jim Ratcliffe to apologise for his “offensive and wrong” comments about immigration.
In a post on X in reaction to the Manchester United co-owner’s comments in a Sky News interview, Sir Keir Starmer said: “Offensive and wrong. Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country. Jim Ratcliffe should apologise.”
The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey, also said Sir Jim should apologise, condemning Sir Jim’s comments as “totally wrong” and “totally out of step with British values”.
Sir Jim, who one of the country’s richest people, founder of the INEOS chemicals group and part-owner of Manchester United Football Club, has sparked controversy by telling Sky’s economics and data editor Ed Conway that the UK has been “colonised by immigrants” which is “costing too much”.
“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.”
His comments were echoed by the response to them from Nigel Farage, who said: “The country has undergone unprecedented mass immigration that has changed the character of many areas in the country. Labour may try and ignore that but Reform won’t.”
Tap here to read his comments in full
The Manchester United Muslim Supporters’ Club, however, were among several football linked groups to criticise the businessman.
It accused Sir Jim of risking “legitimising prejudice and deepening division”, saying it was “deeply concerned” by his rhetoric on immigration.
The group of Muslim fans said in a statement: “We are deeply concerned by recent remarks describing the UK as having been ‘colonised’ by immigrants, and by positive references to political figures whose rhetoric on immigration and minority communities has long been divisive.
“The term ‘colonised’ is not neutral. It echoes language…
