MANCHESTER United and INEOS owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, recently echoed the becoming common immigration-hating tripe of Britain’s billionaire ‘elites’ in an interview with Sky News.
He said: “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. You can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in.”
First of all, it’s important to note that the Office for National Statistics estimates that the UK’s population was 67 million and has since risen to 70 million. For Jim, it seems that either the 12 million people were a figment of his imagination or he created a statistic to encourage his very own hateful agenda.
The Red Devils have been a club lacking in the success to suit their stature for over a decade. Ratcliffe has overseen the last two years. Whilst performances and results appear to be improving, successful recruitment has been almost entirely from players born overseas.
They’re unbeaten in their last five Premier League games, beating derby rivals Manchester City and title favourites Arsenal. United began with the same eleven in both games.
Of the team that might be beginning to return England’s historic club to its accustomed heights, just three would be playing without immigration. They would have taken to the Emirates with a trio of Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire and Kobbie Mainoo and may have even had to call on Mason Mount from the bench.
Many Manchester United fans view their best-ever player as Cristiano Ronaldo. He brought Premier League and Champions League glory to Old Trafford with a Ballon d’Or for his personal cabinet, but by the sounds of it, Ratcliffe thinks his club were better off without him.
He was quick to say that immigrants are “costing too much money” to the British economy. Whilst the majority of these people are working, those who aren’t allowed and are currently housed in migrant hotels cost the UK £2.1bn between April 2024 and March 2025.
Asylum support peaked a year prior at £5.38bn. That is a whopping 10 times less than the UK government is missing out on from wealthy hoarders not paying their taxes.
One of which is Red Devils’ stakeholder Ratcliffe.
In fact, in 2025, immigrants contributed £17bn in tax to the British economy. The exceedingly generous Jim paid £0 despite being one of the richest people in the UK.
His recent interview has demonstrated how just because you have heaps of money, you do not become an any more credible voice.
