Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe faces backlash over 'colonized' remark

[ad_1] LONDON (AP) — The billionaire co-owner of the Manchester United soccer crew apologized Thursday after he triggered a storm of criticism by saying that Britain had been “colonized” by immigrants.

The unique feedback from Jim Ratcliffe, who can be the founder and chairman of chemical substances maker Ineos, had drawn a swift rebuke from Prime Minister Keir Starmer who described them as “offensive and flawed.” That sentiment was seconded by many soccer followers and figures throughout the spectrum of U.Okay. politics.

The controversial remarks got here in a wide-ranging interview with Sky Information by which Ratcliffe touched on the challenges dealing with the European chemical substances business, politics and the weak point of the U.Okay. economic system. They have been a prime information story in Britain the place his place as one of many nation’s richest individuals and the co-owner of one in all its most profitable soccer golf equipment make him an influential voice on politics and the economic system.

Touching a nerve Ratcliffe mentioned Thursday that he had supposed to emphasize the necessity for governments to handle migration and spend money on the economic system to make sure “long-term prosperity is shared by everybody.

“I'm sorry that my alternative of language has offended some individuals within the U.Okay. and Europe and brought about concern,” he mentioned in a press release. “However you will need to increase the problem of managed and well-managed immigration that helps financial development.”

Ratcliffe’s feedback touched a nerve in Britain, the place immigration is a divisive issue . Whereas many individuals rejoice the contributions of immigrants, others complain that the newcomers are straining public companies and failing to combine into British society.

The upstart Reform Party and its chief, Nigel Farage, have used anti-immigrant insurance policies to push their method into the mainstream of British politics. Reform, which gained simply 5 seats in Parliament in 2024, now leads most nationwide opinion polls.

Starmer’s left-leaning Labour Get together won a landslide victory in that election however is now fighting for survival after a collection of coverage missteps and its failure to stop hundreds of asylum seekers from crossing the English Channel on inflatable boats. The prime minister took to social media late Wednesday to criticize Ratcliffe.

“Britain is a proud, tolerant and numerous nation,’’ Starmer mentioned on X. “Jim Ratcliffe ought to apologize.”

Even the crew itself felt it essential to subject a press release given the backlash, insisting it's an “inclusive and welcoming membership” with a “numerous group of gamers.”

Challenges to the billionaire proprietor Others accused Ratcliffe of “hypocrisy” as a result of he has chosen to make his dwelling in Monaco to cut back his U.Okay. tax invoice.

“There’s additionally one thing that I discover fairly offensive, that this man who moved to Monaco to save lots of 4 billion kilos ($5.46 billion) in tax is now lecturing us about immigration,” Justice Minister Jake Richards informed Occasions Radio.

Ratcliffe informed Sky Information that the U.Okay. has “a number of issues,” together with a weak economic system, crime and a struggling well being care system. The federal government gained’t be capable to management immigration or cope with the issue of individuals selecting to dwell on social welfare funds fairly than work for a residing until it's keen to make troublesome selections, he mentioned.

“You possibly can’t have an economic system with 9 million individuals on advantages and large ranges of immigrants coming in,” Ratcliffe mentioned. “I imply, the U.Okay.’s been colonized.”

The issue with ‘colonized’ Using the phrase “colonized’’ is problematic as a result of it suggests immigrants are taking up, mentioned Sunder Katwala, head of the suppose tank Britain First, which research public attitudes on immigration and integration. That is significantly true in Britain, which is re-examining its personal historical past as a nation that when colonized giant components of the world.

“I believe the language of colonized is that (of) dominance, subjugation, dispossession,’’ Katwala informed the BBC. “It’s very exhausting to have that debate in a method that is sensible to all of the completely different sorts of individuals in Britain — white, Black and Asian — fairly than seeming to be an argument about one group towards one other group.”

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Better Manchester, mentioned that his metropolis in northern England is a spot the place individuals of all races and backgrounds have “pulled collectively” to construct the neighborhood and establishments like Manchester United.

“Calling for curbs on ranges of immigration is one factor, portraying those that come right here as a hostile invading power is kind of one other,” Burnham wrote on X. “It's inaccurate, insulting and inflammatory and ought to be withdrawn.”

“If any criticism is required, it ought to be directed in direction of those that have supplied little contribution to our life right here and have as a substitute spent years siphoning wealth out of one in all our proudest establishments,” he wrote.

Anti-racism teams additionally challenged Ratcliffe on his figures. He mentioned that the U.Okay. inhabitants had grown to 70 million from 58 million in 2020. However the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics mentioned that the U.Okay. inhabitants was 67 million in 2020 and was estimated to be 69.5 million in 2025.

A various fan base “Along with the incorrect figures talked about, it’s value reminding him that Manchester United has a various fan base and performs in a metropolis whose cultural historical past has been enriched by immigrants,” the marketing campaign group Kick It Out, which fights racism in soccer, mentioned in a press release. “The sort of language and management has no place in English soccer, and we imagine most followers will really feel the identical.”

Ratcliffe, a boyhood fan of United, paid $1.3 billion for an preliminary 25% stake within the membership in 2024.

He has confronted protests from followers in current weeks as supporters have criticized the United’s possession — together with the U.S. Glazer household — over the operating of the membership.

Ratcliffe’s funding noticed him assume management of soccer operations after years of decline following the retirement of longtime supervisor Alex Ferguson in 2013. However he presided over United’s worst-ever Premier League season final yr, and instigated swathes of cost-cutting measures , whereas rising ticket costs.

Ratcliffe acknowledged that current selections had made him unpopular with Manchester United followers. However he mentioned these modifications have been wanted to make the membership profitable, simply as the federal government should mark robust selections to show the nation round.

“You’ve obtained all the identical points with the nation, don’t you?” he mentioned. “If you wish to deal the foremost points … then you definitely’re going to need to do some issues which can be unpopular.”

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James Robson contributed to this report from Manchester.

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