Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe believes the United Kingdom has been \u201ccolonised by immigrants\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ratcliffe, who moved to Monaco in 2020, said the UK needs a prime minister who is \u201cprepared to be unpopular \u2026 to get the big issues sorted\u201d, comparing that role to his own at United, where he has been \u201cvery unpopular\u201d because of the changes made since his arrival in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in,\u201d Ratcliffe, 73, told Sky<\/a>. \u201cI mean, the UK has been colonised. It\u2019s costing too much money.<\/p>\n \u201cThe UK has been colonised by immigrants, really, hasn\u2019t it? I mean, the population of the UK was 58 million in 2020, now it\u2019s 70 million. That\u2019s 12 million people.\u201d<\/p>\n The UK\u2019s Office for National Statistics estimated that the UK population was 69.5 million in November 2025<\/a>, compared to 67.1 million in 2020<\/a>. The ONS also estimated that the UK\u2019s long-term net migration was 204,000 from 2024 to 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to a House of Commons research briefing from January of this year there were 1.68 million people, as of December 2025<\/a>, claiming unemployment-related benefits in the UK.<\/p>\n Ratcliffe also told Sky that he had recently met with Nigel Farage, the Reform UK party leader.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Nigel is an intelligent man, and, I think he\u2019s got good intentions. But in a way, you could say exactly the same about (Labour leader) Keir Starmer. I think it needs somebody who\u2019s prepared to be unpopular for a period of time to get the big issues sorted out.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve 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 \u2026 we felt like they were the right things to do. But you do become very unpopular for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n Manchester United have been approached for comment.<\/p>\n Ratcliffe\u2019s petrochemicals company INEOS officially took a minority stake in United in February 2024. They have since overseen a raft of changes, including appointing new executives, including CEO Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox.<\/p>\n Across several stages, United have made 450 redundancies<\/a> since Ratcliffe\u2019s INEOS arrived, representing a significant cut to the workforce. United had an average of 1,112 monthly employees according to club accounts for the year ending June 30, 2023. After one tranche of redundancies, Ratcliffe said the club would have \u201cgone bust by Christmas\u201d if not for that and other cost-cutting measures.<\/p>\n United have had five men\u2019s head coaches since INEOS took control of football operations, Erik ten Hag, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Ruben Amorim and Michael Carrick.<\/p>\n There have also been recent protests against INEOS and Ratcliffe by United fans, following a rise in ticket prices at the start of this season.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been very unpopular at Manchester United because we\u2019ve made lots of changes,\u201d Ratcliffe added. \u201cBut for the better, in my view. And I think we\u2019re beginning to see some evidence in the football club that that\u2019s beginning to pay off.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement, Manchester United Muslim Supporters Club said it was \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d by Ratcliffe\u2019s comments, which \u201cecohed language frequently used in far-right narratives that frame migrants as invaders and demographic threats\u201d.<\/p>\n It added: \u201cSuch rhetoric has real-world consequences\u2026legitimising prejudice and deepening division.\u201d<\/p>\n \ud83d\udea8 MUMSC statement regarding recent comments by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.<\/p>\n Read below. pic.twitter.com\/mIgxPdKzWB<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 MUMSC (@mum_sc) February 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n