UK's Starmer condemns billionaire Ratcliffe's immigration comments, calls for apology

KEY ​CONTEXT * Ratcliffe linked his ⁠comments to concerns about benefits, saying “you can’t have an economy with nine million people ⁠on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in.” * Immigration is consistently ​among the top voter concerns in Britain according to opinion polls, and ⁠has helped fuel the rise of Nigel Farage's right-wing populist party Reform UK.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer on ​Wednesday condemned comments by ​billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, who ‌said Britain ​had been "colonised by immigrants" in a broadcast interview, calling the remarks offensive and urging him ‌to apologise. Ratcliffe, the founder of chemicals group INEOS and minority owner of Manchester United, told Sky News that Britain faced "huge levels of ‌immigrants coming in" and argued that the country "has been colonised", saying ‌migration was "costing too much money".

"Offensive and wrong. Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country. Jim Ratcliffe should apologise," Starmer said later in a post on ⁠X. KEY ​CONTEXT * Ratcliffe linked his ⁠comments to concerns about benefits, saying "you can't have an economy with nine million people ⁠on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in."

* Immigration is consistently ​among the top voter concerns in Britain according to opinion polls, and ⁠has helped fuel the rise of Nigel Farage's right-wing populist party Reform UK. * ⁠Official ​data also shows that around 10 million people of working age currently receive some kind of state benefit, though less ⁠than 1.7 million of these are classed as out-of-work claimants.

* The rise ⁠in population ⁠has been overwhelmingly driven by immigration. Studies consistently show migration has an overall positive impact on economic growth.

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