Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says the UK has been 'colonised' by immigrants.
Ratcliffe was present at the European Industry Summit in Antwerp as he took aim at people receiving state support and immigrants.
In an interview with Sky News, the 73-year-old, who moved to tax-free Monaco in 2020, has claimed the UK is being 'colonised' by immigrants.
Ratcliffe explained: "You can't have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in. I mean, the UK has been colonised. It's costing too much money.
Advert
"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."
According to the Office of National Statistics' (ONS) estimations, the population of the UK was 67 million in mid-2020 and 70 million in mid-2024.
In 2020, the UK population was estimated at 58.9 million.
His criticism of the number of people on benefits comes shortly after the government awarded a £120 million grant to INEOS to protect 500 jobs.
Ratcliffe also shared his thoughts on Sir Keir Starmer, suggesting that he might not be the right man for the prime minister job.
"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," he said.
Britain’s seventh-richest man also touched on Reform leader, Nigel Farage, saying: "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."
On Man United, Ratcliffe added: "I've seen quite a bit of this at the football club. 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.
"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."
Topics: Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Manchester United, Football
Nasir Jabbar