Ratcliffe has never been shy in speaking about cultural and political issues and the United co-owner claimed that immigrants were draining resources from the state. He said: "You can't have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in. 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. Ratcliffe later said he was sorry his “choice of language has offended some people in the UK and Europe”.

Source: Daily Mirror February 20, 2026 15:55 UTC