Billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who moved to tax-free Monaco in 2020, has claimed that the UK is being \u201ccolonised\u201d by immigrants, while criticising welfare spending and the state of the British economy.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Sky News, Britain\u2019s seventh-richest man and part-owner of Manchester United targeted immigration levels and the number of people receiving state support.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t afford \u2026 you can\u2019t have an economy with 9 million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in,\u201d he said. \u201cThe UK is being colonised by immigrants, really, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, the population of the UK was 58 million in 2020, now it\u2019s 70 million. That\u2019s 12 million people.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) contradict his claim. The ONS estimates the UK population was about 67 million in 2020, with the population last near 58 million in 2000.<\/p>\n
Ratcliffe\u2019s comments come shortly after the UK government awarded a \u00a3120m grant to Ineos, the chemicals company that underpins much of his \u00a317bn fortune, to protect 500 jobs.<\/p>\n
The billionaire, a vocal supporter of Brexit, has previously lobbied against green taxes and in favour of fracking. <\/p>\n
In the interview at the European Industry Summit in Antwerp, he compared Labour leader Keir Starmer with Reform leader Nigel Farage, whom he described as an \u201cintelligent man\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ratcliffe said he knew Starmer and added: \u201cI don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s just the apparatus that hasn\u2019t allowed Keir to do it or, or he\u2019s maybe too nice \u2013 I mean, Keir is a nice man. I like him, but it\u2019s 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\u2019t think the economy is in a good state.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Farage was \u201can intelligent man, and I think he\u2019s got good intentions\u201d. \u201cBut in a way, you could say exactly the same about Keir, when Keir came in. I think it needs somebody who\u2019s prepared to be unpopular for a period of time to get the big issues sorted out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ratcliffe also likened his restructuring at Manchester United, including job cuts and the appointment and later dismissal of Ruben Amorim, to running a country. He said he had been \u201cunpopular\u201d but that the changes were starting to pay off.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you\u2019ve 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,\u201d he said, the government was \u201cgoing to have to do some things which are unpopular, and show some courage\u201d.
\nThe post UK being \u2018colonised by immigrants\u2019 \u2013 Man United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe appeared first on Vanguard News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who moved to tax-free Monaco in 2020, has claimed that the UK is being \u201ccolonised\u201d by … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-7333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-african-news","tag-general-africa-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n