A political controversy has been sparked by statements by businessman and Manchester United owner Jim Ratcliffe about the colonisation of Britain by immigrants, with the Prime Minister Kir Starmer responded by calling them “offensive and incorrect” and demanding a public apology.

The British Prime Minister launched a public attack on the billionaire businessman following an interview of the latter in which he said the UK “has become a colony of immigrants“. Starmer, in a post on X on Wednesday night, responded by saying: “Offensive and wrong. Britain is a proud, tolerant and multicultural country. Jim Ratcliffe should apologise.”

“You can’t have an economy with millions of benefits and huge levels of immigration”

In his interview with Sky News, the 73-year-old businessman said “you can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigration” and added: “The UK has effectively become a colony of immigrants, hasn’t it? It costs too much money”.

Ratcliffe also questioned Starmer’s suitability for the premiership, saying that “he may be too good for the job” and that “tough decisions” are needed for the economy to recover. “I like him, he’s a good man, but it’s a tough job and you have to do tough things to get the country on the right track, because right now the economy is not in good shape,” he said.

Political pressure on Starmer is mounting as he goes through one of the most difficult periods of his tenure, following the resignation of Lord Peter Mandelson from government. Rival politicians have called for his resignation, and even Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarvar has reportedly urged him to step down. Despite this, in a meeting with the Labour parliamentary group, the prime minister made it clear that he does not intend to quit.

The Starmer’s woke policies regarding social media censorship, has also hurt his government, as more and more people in the UK and abroad compare the country with George Orwell‘s dystopia described in his book “1984“. It should be noted that the UK is by far the first country in convictions for social media “crimes”.

“Smart man Farage”

In the same interview, Rutcliffe revealed that he has met with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, whom he described as a “smart man”, adding that both he and Starmer have “good intentions” but the country needs someone “willing to be unpopular for a while to solve the big problems“.

The businessman, one of the richest Britons with a fortune of about £17 billion according to the Sunday Times rich list for 2025, has seen his fortune fall by about six billion in a year, a development attributed in part to the costs of running Manchester United. He acknowledged that he is “very unpopular” among fans, noting: “We have made a lot of changes, but I think for the better and we are starting to see signs that they are paying off.

The issue of immigration remains central to the political debate. Since Starmer took office in July 2024, more than 65,000 illegal immigrants have arrived in the UK, a number higher than in any previous prime ministerial term. One of his first decisions was to scrap the asylum deal with Rwanda put in place by the previous government, while a key Labour policy is a deal with France for migrant returns on a one-in, one-out model.