Man United releases club statement after Ratcliffe ‘colonised by immigrants’ comments

The club has responded

Yesterday, Sir Jim Ratcliffe said the United Kingdom had been 'colonised" by immigrants, in an interview exclusively with Sky News.

Sir Jim, founder of the INEOS chemicals group and part-owner of Manchester United Football Club, stated that Britain faces profound political, social and economic challenges.

"You can't have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in," he stated. "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."

In mid-2020, the population of the UK was 67 million.

By mid-2024, the number stood at 70 million, as per The Office of National Statistics.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe then stated that prime minister Keir Starmer may not be the correct man for the role: "I don't know whether it's just the apparatus that hasn't allowed Keir to do it or, or he's maybe too nice - I mean, Keir is a nice man. I like him, but it's a tough job and I think you have to do some difficult things with the UK to get it back on track, because at the moment I don't think the economy is in a good state."

Now his own football club, Manchester United, has responded to these comments with a club statement.

It read: "Manchester United prides itself on being an inclusive and welcoming club.

"Our diverse group of players, staff and global community of supporters, reflect the history and heritage of Manchester; a city that anyone can call home. 

"Since launching All Red All Equal in 2016, we have embedded equality, diversity and inclusion into everything we do.

"We remain deeply committed to the principles and spirit of that campaign. They are reflected in our policies but also in our culture and are reinforced by our holding of the Premier League's Advanced Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Standard.

"Over the course of this season, we have participated in events and initiatives at our men's and women's games marking mental health, LGBTQ+ inclusion, No Room for Racism, violence against women and girls and homophobic chanting.

"We have also celebrated our supporters' clubs' events, including our Disabled Supporters' Assocation's Christmas Party and our Jewish Supporters' Club's Chanukah event.

"In the weeks and months ahead, we will be supporting further initiatives in these areas."

Earlier today, reports from The Times said that the FA are "looking into" Ratcliffe's comments.

While the outlet reports that an investigation is "not yet open", it said the FA's legal department "is assessing the controversial remarks".

The report said that the FA will "judge whether the comments could be viewed as bringing the game into disrepute, or discriminatory".

In the wake of the comments, Prime Minister Keir Starmer responded to the news, demanding that Ratcliffe makes an immediate apology.

Posting to social media, Starmer said: "Offensive and wrong.

"Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country. Jim Ratcliffe should apologise."

A Downing Street spokesperson added: "Jim Ratcliffe should immediately apologise.

"His offensive remarks are wrong and play into the hands of those who want to divide our country."

Ratcliffe said he had also spoken to Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, speaking of him: "I think Nigel is an intelligent man, and, I think he's got good intentions. But in a way, you could say exactly the same about 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."