{"id":423030,"date":"2026-02-13T05:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T05:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/423030\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T05:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T05:06:09","slug":"jim-ratcliffe-does-he-pay-more-tax-than-immigrants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/423030\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Ratcliffe: does he pay more tax than immigrants?"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to government PAYE figures<\/a>, skilled worker migrants pay a median of around \u00a39,100 a year in income tax, while health and care workers pay a median of roughly \u00a33,500. These figures exclude national insurance, VAT, council tax and other levies, meaning total tax contributions are higher<\/p>\n

According to the Office for Budget Responsibility<\/a>, new migrants are more likely to be prime working age, therefore, they proportionally have a slightly higher participation rate in the workforce than the native population.<\/p>\n

The OBR said that migrants\u2019 per capita contribution to the UK is around \u00a319,500 per year, which is \u201cclose to the [amount paid by the] average UK adult\u201d. Additionally, application fees associated with immigration visa category and the immigration health surcharge generate a further \u00a34.1 billion per year for the economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmigrants are contributing much more to the economy than Jim Ratcliffe,\u201d said Ala Sirriyeh is a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Lancaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so, I would just say: get your house in order before you start commenting on other people\u2019s contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n

INEOS, the company Ratcliffe founded, does pay tax in the UK. The company does not publish a detailed annual breakdown of its UK corporate tax payments, but its total tax payments<\/a> across multiple countries amounted to hundreds of millions of euros in 2025.<\/p>\n

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The company also claims state support from the government recent years, including a \u00a350 million package to secure its Grangemouth chemical plant just before Christmas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ratcliffe has long lobbied the UK government<\/a> to help pay for the new Manchester United stadium, saying that there is a \u201cvery good case\u201d for public funds to be used in the area\u2019s regeneration.<\/p>\n

His relationship with the government likely soured after today\u2019s comments \u2013 prime minister Keir Starmer called on Ratcliffe to apologise, along with a suite of campaigners. The billionaire was unrepentant.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry that my choice of language has offended some people in the UK and Europe<\/a> and caused concern\u201d he said. \u201c[But] it is important to raise the issue of controlled and well-managed immigration that supports economic growth\u201d.<\/p>\n

The problem with the INEOS boss\u2019 statement was not only his \u201cchoice of language.\u201d The figures he cited to substantiate his claims were not correct.<\/p>\n

During his interview with Sky News<\/a>, Ratcliffe said: \u201cThe population of the UK was 58 million in 2020. Now it\u2019s 70 million. That\u2019s 12 million people.\u201d<\/p>\n

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According to the Office for National Statistics\u2019<\/a> the population in 2020 was 66.7 million. In 2025 it was 69.4 million \u2013 an increase of 2.7 million. The UK population has not been 58 million people since 1995.<\/p>\n

It is true that immigration shot up immediately after Covid \u2013 net migration peaked at 944,000 for the period between April 2022 and March 2023. But it has since dropped down to around 204,000 for the year ending June 2025.<\/p>\n

There are seldom consequences for misrepresenting immigration figures, said Michael Bankole, a lecturer in politics researching on race, racism and representation at Royal Holloway, University of London.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPoliticians do this all time too \u2013 they misrepresent figures or kind of quote figures that aren\u2019t actually accurate. People will lie about facts to suit their agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nigel Farage has publicly supported Ratcliffe\u2019s comments. Big Issue has previously debunked<\/a> some of his claims about immigration<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, over the last four or five years post Brexit, our discourse on immigration has worsened, it\u2019s become much more aggressive,\u201d Bankole said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe fact that Jim Ratcliffe feels comfortable enough to speak about immigration in those terms, to me, suggests that we have really gone to quite a bad place, quite a corrosive place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worrying part isn\u2019t just the language, it\u2019s that influential elites are now comfortable mainstreaming rhetoric that once sat on the margins.\u201d<\/p>\n

This said, his language was indeed inappropriate, said Sirriyeh .<\/p>\n

\u201cColonialism<\/a> was actually a violent process of dispossession where countries like Britain and France and other European powers stole other people\u2019s lands and resources exerted control and power over people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jim Ratcliffe. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, to say that immigrants are colonising is complete misrepresents what\u2019s going on today. Immigrants in Britain today don\u2019t have that power, and don\u2019t want to exert that power \u2013 they are ordinary people moving to other countries for work, for families, to study. So, it\u2019s complete misrepresentation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manchester United have yet to release a statement on the comments \u2013 but they did post on X alluding to the debacle. <\/p>\n

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\u201cManchester United prides itself on being an inclusive and welcoming club. We will continue to represent our people, our city and our fans with purpose and pride.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s Muslim supporters club<\/a> expressed \u201cdeep concern\u201d over the comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic discourse shapes public behaviour,\u201d the group said in a statement. \u201cWhen influential figures adopt language that mirrors extremist talking points, it risks legitimising prejudice and deepening division.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immigrants contribute significantly to British society and economy. Non-UK nationals make up approximately\u00a021% of NHS<\/a> staff. Closer to home for Jim Ratcliffe perhaps \u2013\u00a0Manchester United\u2019s top five top scorers this season are immigrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is hypocritical of a co-owner football club which employs so many foreign-born players to speak out so strongly against immigration,\u201d Bankole said, \u201cgiven that the very club he owns benefits so hugely from the talents of foreign-born footballers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this?\u00a0Get in touch and tell us more<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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You can also support online with a\u00a0vendor support kit<\/a>\u00a0or a\u00a0magazine subscription<\/a>. Thank you for standing with Big Issue vendors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to government PAYE figures, skilled worker migrants pay a median of around \u00a39,100 a year in income…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[114000,218,59,57,58,2795,114001,1768,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-423030","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-environment-and-community","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-gb","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-greatbritain","13":"tag-immigration","14":"tag-immigration-system","15":"tag-manchester","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}