Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been condemned by the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer after claiming that Britain has been “colonised by immigrants”.
In an interview with Sky News, Ratcliffe, a British tax exile who has resided in Monaco since 2020, offered misleading and inaccurate observations about the UK’s immigrant population, and vastly misrepresented the number of people in the UK who claim benefits.
Responding in a post on X on Wednesday night, Starmer said of Ratcliffe’s comments: “Offensive and wrong. Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country. Jim Ratcliffe should apologise.”
Starmer’s Labour colleague Stella Creasy, who is the British MP for Walthamstow, also rebuked Ratcliffe. She wrote on X: “Man U’s starting line up last night would have been three players and the bench would have consisted of just two. Ratcliffe doesn’t seem to understand the contribution they make to his own team, let alone this country – but then as he is an immigrant himself.”
Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, echoed Starmer’s criticism, saying: “Totally wrong. Totally out of step with British values. He should apologise now.”
The Manchester United Muslim Supporters’ Club published a statement on Wednesday night, saying it was “deeply concerned by recent remarks” by Ratcliffe and warning that the language he used, describing immigrants as “colonisers”, echoes “language freuqently used in far-right narratives that frame migrants as invaders and demographic threats.”
The group cited increased hate crime figures against Muslim and Jewish communities, and warned that the use of “extremist talking points” could legitimise “prejudice and deepen division.”
The Manchester United Supporters’ Trust also condemned the comments, saying: “Manchester United belongs to all of its supporters. No fan should feel excluded from following or supporting the club because of their race, religion, nationality or background. Comments from the club’s senior leadership should make inclusion easier, not harder.
“This is not about politics; it is about ensuring that the custodians of Manchester United act in a way that unites supporters rather than marginalising any part of our fanbase.”
In the interview, Ratcliffe said the UK needs a prime minister who is “prepared to be unpopular … to get the big issues sorted”, comparing that role to his own at United, where he has been “very unpopular” because of the changes made since his arrival in 2024.
“You can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in,” Ratcliffe, 73, told Sky. “I mean, the UK has been colonised. It’s costing too much money.
“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.”
The UK’s Office for National Statistics estimated that the UK population was 69.5 million in November 2025, compared to 67.1 million in 2020. The ONS also estimated that the UK’s long-term net migration was 204,000 from 2024 to 2025.
According to a House of Commons research briefing from January of this year there were 1.68 million people, as of December 2025, claiming unemployment-related benefits in the UK.
Ratcliffe also told Sky that he had recently met with Nigel Farage, the Reform UK party leader.
“I think Nigel is an intelligent man, and, I think he’s got good intentions,” Ratcliffe said. “But in a way, you could say exactly the same about (Labour leader) 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.
“I’ve seen quite a bit of this at the football club. 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.”
The Reform leader Farage posted in support of Ratcliffe on Wednesday night, as England’s most famous football team suddenly found itself. He said: “Britain has undergone unprecedented mass immigration that has changed the character of many areas in our country. Labour may try and ignore that but Reform won’t.”
Ratcliffe’s comments have also been shared on X by Tommy Robinson, widely regarded as a far-right agitator in the UK.
Anti-discrimination group Show Racism The Red Card released a statement on Wednesday night, in which they warned that public figures “must recognise the weight and consequences of their words.” They added that to frame diversity as a colonisation “reinforces harmful stereotypes and emboldens those seek to divide.”
The Athletic also reached out on Wednesday evening to the office of Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, asking if he wished to comment on the remarks made by Ratcliffe or comment on what he considers to be the principles of the area. A spokesperson said they were unable to accommodate that request on Wednesday evening.
Manchester United have recently entered a strategic partnership with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Trafford Council to link the club’s new stadium project with the regeneration of the wider Trafford Wharfside area. Mayor Burnham has previously described the stadium proposals as “the biggest opportunity for urban regeneration this country has seen since London 2012 and an important part of our 10-year plan to turbocharge growth not only around Old Trafford but across Greater Manchester.”
The Athletic has approached Manchester United for comment about Ratcliffe’s comments, as well as the club’s executive co-chairmen Joel and Avram Glazer.