ANTI-UNION billionaire tax exile Sir Jim Ratcliffe was slammed from all sides today after he complained that the “UK is being colonised” immigrants.

The Manchester United co-owner has raked in a fortune from Ineos, which has benefited from almost £700 million in loan guarantees from the British government, as well as a £50m handout for the refinery site it closed in Grangemouth, and moved to Monaco to avoid paying £4 billion in taxes to the Treasury.

He said: “You can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in. I mean, the UK is being colonised. It’s costing too much money. The UK has been colonised by immigrants.”

Sir Jim made the comments as part of an interview with Sky News, which included an admission to meeting Reform’s Nigel Farage, whom he described as “an intelligent man.” The far-right party is in a tight race for the Greater Manchester seat of Gorton & Denton in a by-election on February 26.

Football anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out branded the comments “disgraceful,” adding: “It’s worth reminding him that Manchester United has a diverse fan base and plays in a city whose cultural history has been enriched by immigrants.

“This type of language and leadership has no place in English football.”

Echoing that sentiment, Manchester United Muslim Supporters’ Club said: “We are deeply concerned by recent remarks describing [Britain] as having been ‘colonised’ by immigrants, and by positive references to political figures whose rhetoric on immigration and minority communities has long been divisive.

“The term ‘colonised’ is not neutral. It echoes language frequently used in far-right narratives that frame migrants as invaders and demographic threats.”

Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth Brian Leishman slammed the comments of the billionaire who laid waste to Scotland’s manufacturing base, driving skilled workers abroad with the rundown and closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery.

“Jim Ratcliffe’s comments are either incredibly ignorant or a ploy to deflect and distract from the real issue of our time — the fact that inequality is growing and destroying the social fabric of the country. 

“Ratcliffe is trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes and deflect from the fact that he has been responsible for hundreds of job losses in Scotland, industry finishing up, and the consequences of that mean an exodus of skills and talent leaving and communities worse off as a result, with Scotland’s national economy suffering by hundreds of millions of pounds per annum. 

“He has once again shown himself up for what he is — a capitalist who believes that inequality is needed for society to function.”

And National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede’s social media riposte to Mr Ratcliffe was: “We don’t have an immigration problem. We have a billionaire problem.”

Joining the chorus, SNP First Minister John Swinney said: “People have come to live here, to contribute to our economy, and they are welcome.

“Scotland faces particular challenges about the size of our working-age population, so we need to attract a larger working-age population.

“Morally and philosophically, I disagree with Jim Ratcliffe, and economically I disagree with him, because migration helps to boost our economy…

“We’ve got very low unemployment and we’ve got a shortage of working-age population.

“That says to me we’ve got to be open to migration to boost and grow our economy and the UK government is completely hostile to that and is standing in the way of economic growth and opportunity in Scotland as a consequence.”

After Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s demand for an apology, in a statement issued on Thursday, Ratcliffe pointedly refused to withdraw his comments.

“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,” he said.

A spokesperson for Sir Keir said: “The Prime Minister asked for an apology, and one’s been issued, and it’s absolutely right that Jim Ratcliffe has apologised for that language.”