‘Inaccurate, insulting, inflammatory’ – Andy Burnham condemns Ratcliffe over UK being ‘colonised’ by migrants claim
Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, has joined those criticising Jim Ratcliffe over his claim that the UK is being “colonised” by immigrants.
Burnham said in a statement:
These comments go against everything for which Manchester has traditionally stood: a place where people of all races, faiths and none have pulled together over centuries to build our city and our institutions, including Manchester United FC.
Calling for curbs on levels of immigration is one thing; portraying those who come here as a hostile invading force is quite another.
It is inaccurate, insulting, inflammatory and should be withdrawn.
He also suggested that Ratcliffe has been “siphoning wealth” out of Manchester United, while offering “little contribution” to the city.
Key events
Lib Dems and Greens condemn Ratcliffe – while Tories offer only mild criticism, saying migration ‘of great concern to millions’
The Liberal Democrats and the Greens have joined those strongly criticising Jim Ratcliffe’s claim that the UK is being “colonised” by migrants.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, posted this reponse on social media:
Totally wrong. Totally out of step with British values. He should apologise now.
And the Green party issued this statement from its byelection candidate in Gorton and Denton, Hannah Spencer.
I challenge Jim Ratcliffe to join me on Stockport Road, meet the hard-working business people, struggling residents, and look them in the eye and listen to them.
I have and I know that they are sickened by his views and demand his apology.
This is Britain’s seventh-richest man, who moved to tax-free Monaco in 2020 and owns Manchester United punching down on the people in this constituency. What disgusting and racist comments. No wonder Reform leader Nigel Farage has backed him.
But the Conservative party has been much more muted in its criticism. This is what Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, said when asked about Ratcliffe’s comments this morning.
I wouldn’t use that term colonised. I think it’s pejorative and suggests there’s some kind of huge negativity around the motivations of those people that come here. And I don’t think that’s the case across the piece.
But he is referencing something that is of great concern to millions of people up and down the country, that migration has been too high for too long.
When we were in government, we were doing something about that at the tail end of the Conservative government. We’ve seen those figures coming down as a consequence of our action.
But we do need to be very aware of the impact that migration has, particularly illegal migration, which the government is showing no signs of being able to control.
Government source hits back after ex-FCO permanent secretary warns against Antonia Romeo being made cabinet secretary
Sir Simon McDonald, the former permanent secretary of the Foreign Office, has urged No 10 to do “more due diligence” as it prepares to replace the cabinet secretary, Chris Wormald, with Antonia Romeo, the frontrunner for the role. Rowena Mason has the story.
Steven Swinford from the Times says McDonald’s comments have provoked a furious backlash from people within government. He has posted this comment from a government source.
This is a desperate attempt from a senior male official whose time has passed but spent their career getting Britain into the mess it finds itself in today. A computer says no culture, that cannot challenge the status quo.
Antonia is a disrupter. She isn’t settled with the status quo. She is one of the few senior officials that has always fought against the computer says no culture embedded in the British state
In light of the crisis we face as a country, Antonia is exactly the leadership the civil service need to embrace systemic reform to rewire the state, take on vested interest and deliver for the British people.
UK economy grows by only 0.1% amid falling business investment
The UK economy expanded by only 0.1% in the final three months of last year, according to official data, as falling business investment and weak consumer spending led to little momentum going into 2026. Tom Knowles has the story.
And Graeme Wearden has more reaction on his business live blog.
Football ‘shining example of multiculturalism’ and Ratcliffe’s comments ‘crass and insensitive’, says GMB
The GMB union has alos criticised Jim Ratcliffe over his comments about immigration. The union represents workers employed by Ineos, the chemicals company set up and run by Ratcliffe. Andy Prendergast, the GMB’s national secretary, said:
Anyone who watches football knows the beautiful game is a shining example multiculturalism; people from across the world playing in harmony.
In light of this, Radcliffe’s crass and insensitive comments just underline how out of touch and offensive he truly is.
His reign at Man Utd has been marked by mass dismissals of loyal staff and chaos on the pitch.
Frankly, his right to comment on UK affairs should have ended the moment he sloped off to Monaco to avoid paying his taxes.
‘Inaccurate, insulting, inflammatory’ – Andy Burnham condemns Ratcliffe over UK being ‘colonised’ by migrants claim
Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, has joined those criticising Jim Ratcliffe over his claim that the UK is being “colonised” by immigrants.
Burnham said in a statement:
These comments go against everything for which Manchester has traditionally stood: a place where people of all races, faiths and none have pulled together over centuries to build our city and our institutions, including Manchester United FC.
Calling for curbs on levels of immigration is one thing; portraying those who come here as a hostile invading force is quite another.
It is inaccurate, insulting, inflammatory and should be withdrawn.
He also suggested that Ratcliffe has been “siphoning wealth” out of Manchester United, while offering “little contribution” to the city.
Minister escalates row with ‘hypocritical’ Ratcliffe over claim UK colonised by immigrants
Good morning. As Joe Coughlan and Rob Davies report, last night Downing Street said that the Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe should apologise for his comments that the UK is being “colonised” by immigrants.
Although Ratcliffe’s claim that the UK population had increased by 12m over the past five years was shockingly and absurdly inaccurate, it was still moderately surprising that Downing Street criticised Ratcliffe so quickly and so explicitly. In the past, when public figures have made anti-immigration comments, the default government response has often been to say that they have a point and that these concerns are understandable. It is to soon to know whether the Ratcliffe rebuttal is evidence of a new approach, but Morgan McSweeney, who was the PM’s chief of staff until Sunday, was one of the figures in Downing Street most nervous about being seen as pro-immigration, and there is speculation that, with him out of the building, Starmer might be bolder about articulating his progressive instincts.
What No 10 says it important because, when the PM speaks out, ministers feel confident piling in behind. Jake Richards, the justice minister, has picked up the message. He has been doing a broadcast round this morning and he sounds like he feels licensed to escalate the attack on Ratcliffe. He told Times Radio:
[Ratcliffe] he certainly doesn’t have to apologise for having an opinion. But personally, and I think, the prime minister thinks, that that language is offensive to so many people.
It is completely absurd to think that our country is being ‘colonised’, which implies some kind of invasion or taken over. That’s not right at all.
Richards also suggested Ratcliffe was a hypocrite.
Let’s just be very clear that Jim Ratcliffe’s comments yesterday both were offensive in terms of the language used, he got his facts wrong, and there’s also something that I find quite offensive, that this man who moved to Monaco to save £4bn in tax is now lecturing us about immigration. There’s something that I find slightly hypocritical about that.
It is hard to imagine Richards letting rip like this if McSweeney were still in charge in Downing Street.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: NHS England publishes its monthly performance figures.
Morning: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is due to speak to the media on a visit to a training centre in the south of England.
Morning: Wes Streeting, the health secretary, is visiting a Manchester hospital.
11am: Angela Rayner, the former deputy PM, speaks at a night-time economy conference in Liverpool. Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram, the mayors of Greater Manchester and Liverpool city region respectively, are also speaking.
Morning: David Lammy, the deputy PM and justice secretary, is visiting a youth offending service in south London.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Noon: John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, takes questions from MSPs.
1.30pm: The Manchester Evening News is hosting a Gorton and Denton byelection debate.
And the government is publishing its representation of the people bill, which will lower the voting age to 16.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (between 10am and 3pm), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
