INEOS founder’s remarks ignite political backlash as Farage defends critique of immigration, welfare and industrial policy.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Billionaire industrialist Sir Jim Ratcliffe ignited a political firestorm this week after warning that Britain is being “colonised” by mass migration and describing welfare dependency and industrial decline as existential challenges for the country.
Speaking in a wide-ranging interview with Sky News, the INEOS chemicals chief and Manchester United co-owner said the United Kingdom “has got lots of problems,” including “the economy, crime, education, health. It’s all not in a great place at the moment.”
Ratcliffe argued that difficult decisions would be required to reverse the country’s trajectory.
“You can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits,” he said. “And huge levels of immigrants coming in, the UK is being colonised. It’s costing too much money… the UK is being colonised by immigrants. The population of the UK was 58 million… now it’s 70 million. That’s 12 million people.”
The remarks prompted immediate condemnation from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who called the comments “offensive and wrong,” adding: “Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country. Jim Ratcliffe should apologise.”
Other Labour politicians described the statements as “inaccurate, insulting, inflammatory,” and “offensive,” with one justice minister suggesting Ratcliffe “should perhaps keep some of his views to himself.”
Sky News later prefaced follow-up coverage with reporting on Ratcliffe’s clarification, in which he said: “I am sorry that my choice of language has offended some people in the UK and Europe… It is important to raise the issue of controlled and well-managed immigration that supports economic growth… It is critical that we maintain an open debate on the challenges facing the UK.”
Despite expressing regret over wording, Ratcliffe did not retract his broader concerns about immigration levels and economic sustainability.
Ratcliffe, who supported Labour before the last general election, suggested that Prime Minister Starmer may lack the resolve to implement unpopular reforms. Calling Starmer a “nice man” and “maybe too nice,” he reflected on a recent meeting with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
“I think Nigel is an intelligent man and I think he’s got good intentions, but in a way you could say the same about Keir when he came in,” Ratcliffe said. “I think it needs someone who is prepared to be unpopular for a period of time to get the big issues sorted out.”
Farage publicly backed Ratcliffe’s assessment. In a statement, he said the controversy centered on a single word rather than the underlying data.
“[Ratcliffe] caused outrage by his comments but what’s he actually said? Well he said our population has gone up from 58 million to 70 million and that with nine million people of working age on benefits we don’t need mass migration,” Farage said. “Now that word was controversial, and he said ‘OK you don’t like the word? We’ll tone it down’. But just think about this; you ask yourself why public services are diminished, you ask yourself why rents have gone through the roof. The population explosion has done that.”
Farage added: “Big areas of our towns and cities have been changed into something completely different to what they were and it’s all making us poorer. And I don’t care if No.10 is in uproar or if much of the mainstream media find his comments too difficult. I believe firmly that Jim Ratcliffe is right.”
Beyond immigration, Ratcliffe warned that Europe’s industrial base, particularly in chemicals and petrochemicals, faces collapse due to high energy costs and regulatory burdens.
Describing the chemical industry as foundational, he said: “You can’t run hospitals without a chemical industry, you can’t feed people without a chemical industry, and you can’t make weapons — you can’t defend yourself — without a chemical industry, so it’s a really serious national security issue.”
Ratcliffe argued that energy costs in Europe are “three or four times that of the USA,” while carbon taxes have “quadrupled since 2020,” and allowances have halved. He warned that foreign competitors, particularly from China, are gaining advantage because imports do not bear the same regulatory costs.
“With energy costs that are three or four times that of the USA… and our competitors who import product don’t pay carbon taxes… those are unsurvivable conditions,” he said. “Nothing will survive in petrochemicals and plastics in these conditions.”
He cautioned that deindustrialisation would leave Europe dependent on foreign imports, eventually increasing costs and reducing strategic autonomy.
Manufacturing in the UK, he said, has already “collapsed.”
The controversy over Ratcliffe’s remarks underscores widening divisions in British politics over immigration policy, economic competitiveness, and the long-term sustainability of public services.
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