The founder of Ineos said he is sorry if his comments ‘offended some people’
Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has apologised that his claim Britain has been “colonised” by migrants “offended some people in the UK and Europe”.
Sir Jim, one of Britain’s richest men, has been under pressure from a string of high-profile politicians, including Sir Keir Starmer, to apologise for the claim.
While the Ineos founder said he was sorry that his remarks “caused concern”, Sir Jim insisted that it was important to “raise the issue of controlled and well-managed immigration that supports economic growth”.
Sir Jim Ratcliffeplaceholder image
Sir Jim Ratcliffe | Sky News
In a statement released on Thursday, the billionaire said: “I am sorry that my choice of language has offended some people in the UK and Europe and caused concern, but it is important to raise the issue of controlled and well-managed immigration that supports economic growth.
“My comments were made while answering questions about UK policy at the European Industry Summit in Antwerp, where I was discussing the importance of economic growth, jobs, skills and manufacturing in the UK.”
He added: “My intention was to stress that governments must manage migration alongside investment in skills, industry and jobs so that long-term prosperity is shared by everyone. It is critical that we maintain an open debate on the challenges facing the UK.”
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said it was “right” that Sir Jim apologised for his “offensive and wrong” comments.
Sir Keir was among the first major political figures to have called on the businessman to apologise.
Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester said they “go against everything for which Manchester has traditionally stood”.
Mr Burnham, who has backed plans driven by Sir Jim to regenerate Old Trafford and build a new stadium for Manchester United, also said “footballers who have arrived from all over the world to play in Greater Manchester have enhanced the life of our city region”.
He then appeared to hit out at United’s ownership, adding: “If any criticism is needed, it should be directed towards those who have offered little contribution to our life here and have instead spent years siphoning wealth out of one of our proudest institutions.”
Kick It Out – the anti-discrimination football campaign group – said Sir Jim’s comments were “disgraceful and deeply divisive” and also criticised his claim that the UK population has swelled by 12 million since 2020, which has proved to be inaccurate.
In the interview with Sky News on Wednesday, Sir Jim – who founded chemical giant Ineos in 1998 – said: “You can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in.
“I mean, the UK is being colonised. It’s costing too much money. The UK has been colonised by immigrants.”
First Minister John Swinney has said comments made by Sir Jim on immigration were a “mistake”.
Ineos ran the Grangemouth oil refinery that closed last year resulting in hundreds losing their jobs.
Mr Swinney said he “disagreed fundamentally” with the comments.
He added: “ I think the UK and Scotland have benefitted from migration.
“People have come to live here, to contribute to our economy, and they are welcome.
“Scotland faces particular challenges about the size of our working-age population, so we need to attract a larger working-age population.
“Morally and philosophically, I disagree with Jim Ratcliffe, and economically I disagree with him, because migration helps to boost our economy, and that’s a good thing for our country.”
When asked if Sir Jim should be listened to given his success with the energy giant Ineos, the First Minister said: “Obviously I listen to him, but I disagree with him - I don’t have to agree with everything I listen to.
“I think what Jim Ratcliffe is doing is making a mistake about the economic opportunities and necessities that we face in Scotland today.
“We’ve got very low unemployment and we’ve got a shortage of working-age population.
“That says to me we’ve got to be open to migration to boost and grow our economy and the UK Government is completely hostile to that and is standing in the way of economic growth and opportunity in Scotland as a consequence.”
Sir Jim bought a minority share in Manchester United in late 2023 and his Ineos group has since taken control of football operations.
The billionaire has presided over a variety of contentious changes since becoming part of the ownership, with ticket pricing and availability causing particular anger among United fans.
A protest against the club’s owners, including for the first time towards Sir Jim as well as the Glazers, took place before Manchester United’s recent home game against Fulham.
Sir Jim, a Labour Party donor, who is now based in Monaco, made the remarks in an interview with Sky News on Wednesday.
He said: “You can’t have an economy with 9 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?”
He then said: “I mean the population of the UK was 58 million in 2020, now it’s 70m. That’s 12m people.”
These figures are inaccurate according to the Office for National Statistics, which says the UK’s population in mid-2025 was 69.4m, compared to 66.7m in mid-2020.
He also compared the job of running the country to his ownership of Manchester United, saying polticians need to be “prepared to be unpopular for a period of time to get the big issues sorted out”.
Sir Jim, who is the seventh richest person in the UK with a net worth of £17bn, said: “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.”
He added: “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.”
Speaking about the Prime Minister, he said: “It’s a tough job, and I think you have to do some difficult things with the UK to get it back on track.”
He then said he had met with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and said he was an “intelligent man” with “good intentions” but added that “in a way, you could say exactly the same about Keir when Keir came in”.
Speaking on X afterwards, Mr Farage said: “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.”
Posting on X, Sir Keir said: “Offensive and wrong. Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country. Jim Ratcliffe should apologise.”