Ineos Grenadiers owner Jim Ratcliffe apologises for 'choice of language' after saying the UK is being 'colonised by immigrants'

The owner of Ineos Grenadiers, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has apologised for his "choice of language" after he claimed that "the UK is being colonised by immigrants".

The billionaire, founder of the Ineos petrochemicals group, made the comments in an interview with Sky News, released on Wednesday evening. After criticism, including from the British prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, he apologised for offending people, but did not retract his comments.

"You can’t afford… you can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in," he said initially. "The UK is being colonised by immigrants, really, isn’t it?

"I mean, the population of the UK was 58 million in 2020, now it’s 70 million. That’s 12 million people."

The UK's Office for National Statistics estimates that the population of the UK was 67 million in 2020 and 70 million in 2024. The last time the UK's population was close to 58 million was 2000.

Ineos Grenadiers, officially registered in the UK, count 15 nationalities among their 29 riders. The team was bought by Ratcliffe and his Ineos group in 2019 from Team Sky, although a 'multimillion' deal with French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies last year brought new investment onboard.

On Thursday, Ratcliffe issued the following statement: "I am sorry that my choice of language has offended some people in the UK and Europe and caused concern but it is important to raise the issue of controlled and well-managed immigration that supports economic growth...

"My intention was to stress that governments must manage migration alongside investment in skills, industry and jobs so that long-term prosperity is shared by everyone. It is critical that we maintain an open debate on the challenges facing the UK."

Ratcliffe has other investments across sport, including part-owning Manchester United FC. He shifted his tax residency to Monaco in 2020, and previously backed Brexit and argued against green policies.

The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said the comments were "inaccurate, insulting, inflammatory and should be withdrawn".

Last month, Ineos the chemical company was granted £120m of British government funding to help secure the future of a plant in Scotland.

"I've been very unpopular at Manchester United because we've made lots of changes," Ratcliffe said in the interview. "But for the better, in my view. And I think we're beginning to see some evidence in the football club that that's beginning to pay off.

"But you've got all the same issues with the country. If you really want to deal with the major issues of immigration, with people opting to take benefits rather than working for a living, if you want to deal with that, then you're going to have to do some things which are unpopular, and show some courage."

At Manchester United, Ratcliffe has made hundreds of staff redundant in his two years having part control of the football club.

Starmer called the comments "offensive and wrong".

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