Sir Keir Starmer has demanded British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe apologises after the Manchester United owner warned the UK is being “colonised” by immigrants.
The Prime Minister turned on the 73-year-old owner of the chemicals group Ineos in a short post on social media.
Sir Keir said: “Offensive and wrong. Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country. Jim Ratcliffe should apologise.”
Sir Jim, who backed Brexit in 2016, emerged as a surprise supporter of Sir Keir’s Labour ahead of the 2024 General Election.
However, the Lancashire-born businessman has ramped up his criticisms of the Labour Government over the course of Sir Keir’s stint in No10.
Sir Jim put pressure on the Prime Minister, whom he described as “maybe too nice”, to “do some difficult things with the UK to get it back on track”.
Directly addressing Britain’s migration crisis, Sir Jim told Sky News: “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. The UK has been colonised by immigrants, really, hasn’t it?
Sir Jim Ratcliffe supported Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour ahead of the 2024 General Election
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“I mean, the population of the UK was 58 million in 2020, now it’s 70 million. That’s 12 million people.”
The UK’s population has ballooned from just 58.9 million in 2000 to 69.3 million in mid-2024, official data compiled by the Office for National Statistics has revealed.
Net migration has also soared in recent years, peaking at 944,000 in the year ending June 2023 after previously sitting at around 250,000 in the mid-2000s.
However, Sir Jim’s fears about Sir Keir’s leadership did not result in a whole-hearted endorsement for Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage responded directly to Sir Keir Starmer on social media
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“I think Nigel is an intelligent man and I think he’s got good intentions,” the 73-year-old Brexit-backing businessman said.
“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.”
Speaking about Sir Keir, the Ineos owner added: “I don’t know whether it’s just the apparatus that hasn’t allowed Keir to do it 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.”
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has made a series of controversial decisions during his time at Manchester United | GETTY
Despite Sir Keir’s criticisms, the Prime Minister expressed his own “deep regrets” after he was accused of echoing Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech in 2025.
The Prime Minister had warned that Britain was at risk of “becoming an island of strangers” before unveiling stricter measures to cut net migration.
Sir Jim, who completed the purchase of a significant minority stake at Old Trafford in 2024, also sparked outrage from the Red Devils’s official Muslim supporters group.
In a statement, the Manchester United Muslim Supporters Club said: “It echoes language frequently used in far-right narratives that frame migrants as invaders and demographic threats.
Keir Starmer issued a grovelling apology after his ‘islands of strangers’ speech
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GETTY“Such rhetoric has real-world consequences. The UK has experienced sustained increases in hate crimes in recent years, including rises in Islamophobia, antisemitism, racially motivated attacks, and hostility toward migrants and people of colour.”
However, Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith took exception with Sir Jim’s decision to label Sir Keir a “nice man”.
Mr Griffith said: “Like others, I am concerned about the accuracy of comments made by Sir Jim Ratcliffe in this interview.
“Anyone who gives away the Chagos Islands, makes Rachel Reeves Chancellor, refused a grooming gang enquiry, wants to prosecute military veterans and vindictively attacks independent education … is not a ‘nice man’.”
Meanwhile, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage added: “Britain has undergone unprecedented mass immigration that has changed the character of many areas in our country. Labour may try to ignore that but Reform won’t.”