Ineos Grenadiers owner Jim Ratcliffe at centre of political storm after claiming 'UK has been colonised by immigrants'

Jim Ratcliffe, the owner of Ineos Grenadiers, has found himself at the centre of a political storm in the UK after claiming the country is being “colonised by immigrants”.

Ratcliffe, who purchased the British team formerly known as Team Sky in 2019, has been called upon to apologise by the UK’s Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, in a story that has dominated the mainstream news agenda overnight.

Ratcliffe, a British billionaire who resides in Monaco, made the comments in an interview with Sky News on Wednesday, weighing in on one of the most divisive topics in British politics currently.

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

"The UK has been colonised by immigrants, really, hasn't it?" he added.

Ratcliffe went on to cite inaccurate figures relating to the growth of the UK population.

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

Data from the Office for National Statistics estimates the UK population was 66.7 million in mid-2020, and 69.4 million in mid-2025.

Ratcliffe’s comments shot to the top of the news agenda when the UK prime minister weighed in.

“Offensive and wrong,” Starmer said in a social media post referencing Ratcliffe’s comments. “Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country. Jim Ratcliffe should apologise.”

A spokesperson for the Prime Minister added: “His offensive remarks are wrong and play into the hands of those who want to divide our country.”

Ratcliffe is one of the UK’s wealthiest individuals, who owns the Ineos petrochemicals company as well as associated sports organisations, including the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team and Manchester United Football Club.

He was already a controversial figure, having lobbied against environmental groups over fracking policies and having made sweeping redundancies at Manchester United. In 2020, he shifted his tax residency from the UK to Monaco, which reportedly saved him £4bn in tax receipts. Meanwhile, he has appealed for taxpayer government funding to secure the future of a petrochemicals plant in Scotland, which was granted, and to build a new stadium for Manchester United.

Ratcliffe’s emigrant tax status has been regularly flagged as hypocritical in what has been widespread condemnation of his comments on the supposed ’colonisation’ of the UK by immigrants. Most riders and staff on the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team have overseas residency, with geographical access to races, training conditions, and sometimes tax savings among the main reasons for moving abroad.

Ineos Grenadiers are back under the guidance of Dave Brailsford, who stepped away from the cycling team in 2024 to run Ineos' wider portfolio of sporting ventures, and was regularly sat beside Ratcliffe in the stands at Manchester United games before stepping back from that role last June.