Loose Women star Jane Moore has weighed in on recent comments about the UK by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the petrochemicals magnate and Manchester United co-owner.
The business tycoon declared that Britain is “on the slide,” blaming excessive taxation, unchecked immigration, and spiralling welfare costs for the country’s decline.
Speaking to the BBC at the launch of the EU’s first carbon capture and storage facility in Denmark, the Ineos founder warned that punitive levies on the wealthy were triggering an exodus. “If you tax everybody to death, they’re all going to leave. And that’s what’s happening,” he said.
The billionaire also branded the government’s reluctance to approve further North Sea drilling as “insanity,” cautioning that dangerously low gas storage levels could leave the UK vulnerable to shortages during a harsh winter. Ineos operates the Forties pipeline, which transports roughly 30 percent of Britain’s North Sea oil output.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is a minority owner of Manchester United | GETTY
Labour ministers promptly hit back at the remarks, with Treasury minister Torsten Bell accusing the billionaire of “hating his own country,” while party chair Bridget Phillipson challenged whether Mr Ratcliffe had any standing to lecture Britain on its economic trajectory.
“I do think you lose the moral high ground in the argument you make, Jim Ratcliffe, that is, by making these kinds of pronouncements while choosing to make decisions, that he is within his rights to make, to become a tax exile,” Ms Phillipson told the BBC.
She also pointed to his prominent role in campaigning for Brexit. “And of course, he was also someone, as I understand it, who was a big supporter of Brexit,” she added.
Ratcliffe, whose fortune is estimated at approximately £15bn, left Britain in 2018 and has been a tax resident of Monaco since 2020.
It was Ms Phillipson’s retort which caught the eye of Ms Moore, in particular. Writing in her column for The Sun, she claimed Ms Phillipson’s response was clear evidence of “dodging” by politicians.
“Businessman and Man Utd owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says that the UK economy is ‘on the slide’. He blamed high taxes and the failure to tackle immigration and the welfare bill,” she began.
Ms Moore continued: “But when Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson was asked her thoughts on these observations, she said they should be taken with a ‘pinch of salt’ because he’s been a tax resident in Monaco since 2020 and has therefore lost ‘the moral high ground’.
“Sigh. This classic deflection is precisely why people have lost faith in politicians.”
Bridget Phillipson hit back at Sir Jim’s comments, branding him a ‘tax exile’ | GB NEWS
Ms Moore put up a defence of the Man United owner: “Ratcliffe, founder of petrochemical giant Ineos, knows a lot about generating growth and where he lives doesn’t change that.”
She signed off: “Leading us to conclude that Ms Phillipson chose to dodge the question because she has no answer.”
Mr Ratcliffe was also irked by the political class more broadly, arguing that leaders across the board had failed to confront the nation’s most pressing challenges.
“We need politicians who are tough enough to deal with some very difficult problems, and we know what the problems are,” he said. “And we need politicians who will make decisions which are good for the country, not good for themselves and their party. And we haven’t had one of those for a long time.”
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is no stranger to hitting headlines with his comments on the state of Britain
| PA
It isn’t the first time Mr Ratcliffe has found himself in the news for commenting on political matters in the UK.
In February, he claimed the UK had been “colonised by immigrants.” The remarks drew condemnation from Andy Burnham, then Greater Manchester mayor and now Prime Minister, who called them “inaccurate, insulting and inflammatory.”
Mr Ratcliffe subsequently apologised, saying he was sorry if his “choice of language” had caused offence.
The government pushed back against Mr Ratcliffe’s warnings, insisting Britain’s energy supply remained robust.
Jane Moore regularly appears on the ITV show, Loose Women
| ITV
“We have a diverse energy mix and are confident in our security of supply,” a spokesperson said, adding that business investment had grown over the past two years.
Officials also maintained that oil and gas would remain part of Britain’s energy landscape “for decades to come,” but stressed that the shift to domestically produced clean power was essential for long-term security.