Britain has been “colonised by immigrants” who are costing too much money, one of the country’s richest men declared.

Billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who part-owns Manchester United, called for politicians to “show some courage” by slashing migration and benefits.

Sir Jim, who owns the chemicals empire Ineos, said: "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," he said.

"The UK has been colonised by immigrants, really, hasn't it? The population of the UK was 58 million in 2020, now it's 70 million. That's 12 million people."

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) estimates that the population of the UK was 67 million in mid-2020 and 70 million in mid-2024. It was around 58.9 million in 2000.

Sir Jim’s blistering intervention came after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood warned many low-skilled foreign nationals “may require assistance from the state”.

A staggering one in 30 people have arrived since 2021, with some 1.6 million people expected to receive indefinite leave to remain over the next five years, which would allow them to claim benefits and get a social home.

The businessman praised Reform UK leader Nigel Farage after suggesting Sir Keir Starmer might be “too nice” to be Prime Minister.

He said: "I don't know whether it's just the apparatus that hasn't allowed Keir to do it or, or he's maybe too nice - I mean, Keir is a nice man.

“I like him, but it's a tough job and I think you have to do some difficult things with the UK to get it back on track, because at the moment I don't think the economy is in a good state.

"I think Nigel is an intelligent man, and I think he's got good intentions. But in a way, you could say exactly the same about Keir Starmer.

“I think it needs somebody who's prepared to be unpopular for a period of time to get the big issues sorted out."

The Home Secretary, appearing before MPs last week, said the “scale and pace” of arrivals over the past five years was “akin to signing up to free movement”.

Net migration surged to a record high of 944,000 in the year ending March 2023. In the year to June 2024, it dropped to 649,000. In 2022, it hit a staggering 764,000.

But it fell to 204,000 as the number of people leaving the country hit the highest level for a century.

The number of arrivals dropped below a million for the first time in three years in 2025. Some 1.47 million arrived in the UK in 2023.

This was fuelled by an increase in non-EU workers, overseas students and people arriving on the health and social care visas.

The Conservatives, before they left Government, banned care workers and foreign students from bringing family members with them.

They also increased the salary threshold for skilled worker and family visas.

Labour last year raised that again and banned the overseas recruitment of care home workers.

But fears the immigration crisis could lead to a higher welfare bill were laid bare after experts from Oxford University’s Migration Observatory said asylum claims made up 44% of net migration in the year to June.

And separate research – carried out by the Home Office – showed more than half of refugees are unemployed. The employment rate amongst refugees reaches 45% after two years and 48% after eight, increasing fears they will cost the taxpayer even more in benefits.

Of the 110,000 protection claims, 41% (45,183) arrived on a small boat.

And Sir Jim said Labour must be prepared to make “unpopular” changes.

He said: "Well, I've been very unpopular at Manchester United because we've made lots of changes. But for the better, in my view. And I think we're beginning to see some evidence in the football club that that's beginning to pay off.

"But you've got all the same issues with the country. If you really want to deal with the major issues of immigration, with people opting to take benefits rather than working for a living, if you want to deal with that, then you're going to have to do some things which are unpopular, and show some courage."

New figures show there are now almost 4.2m people on Universal Credit with “no work requirements” following a surge in mental health claims.

They make up half of the 8.4m who are on the benefit overall, following the biggest increase in claimants since the start of the Covid pandemic.

Spending on working age benefits will hit £177bn in the 2030s.

Under Labour’s plans, migrants could be barred from claiming benefits unless they become British citizens.

And Ms Mahmood said those relying on handouts must wait 20 to 30 years to receive indefinite leave to remain.

She plans to double the time before most migrants can claim indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the UK to at least 10 years.

Foreign nationals who arrived in the so-called ‘Boris Wave’ face a 10 to 15-year wait for settlement rights amid fears over an influx of low-skilled workers, particularly on the abused health and social care visa in the early part of this decade.

Foreign nationals applying for indefinite leave to remain must have no criminal record, speak English to A-level standards and have no debt, under Labour’s new proposals.

Ms Mahmood told the Home Affairs Select Committee: “On any measure, the numbers that we have seen in the last few years are unprecedented.

“There is no other equivalent period where we have seen such a large number of people arrive and such a mismatch between what the expectation was and what has in fact happened.

“On scale and pace, and the unprecedented nature of what we are seeing, it is something akin to signing up to free movement with the European Union—that is the only other historical comparator you could possibly look at.

“Without any change, at the point of settlement all those individuals will be able to access social housing and the welfare state.

“Because of the lower-skilled nature of many of these people in terms of their salary expectations, you can expect that there will be a correlation between those numbers and those who, having achieved settled status, may require assistance from the state, if we do not change the rules.”

But union barons are threatening to derail Ms Mahmood’s migration crackdown.

UNISON joined nearly 50 rebel Labour MPs, including some former frontbenchers, in condemning the Home Secretary’s settlement reforms.

General secretary Andrea Egan said: “Ministers must pause these proposals immediately and properly investigate the effect of any reforms.

“Failure to look at all the consequences is reckless. There's a risk they'll have another Windrush-style scandal on their hands.

“You cannot move the goalposts and retrospectively extend the qualifying period to people who came to the UK under existing rules.

“Due to salary thresholds, thousands of workers have already been left unable to renew or update their visas or change employer.

“As a result, many are losing the right to live and work in the UK.

“The Home Office consultation refers to overseas social care staff as ‘low waged and low skilled’. The country should be thanking these workers, not insulting them. The care sector can't be built on exploited, dehumanised workers.

“Ministers should be overhauling the visa system to prevent bad employers threatening staff with deportation. Without a sector-wide visa scheme in social care, the Employment Rights Act will be a mirage for some of the most vulnerable workers in the UK.”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Express: “Immigration has been far too high and integration far too low.

"Illegal immigration must stop and the days of mass low skill migration must end. People here illegally and foreign criminals must all be deported. The Conservatives have a proper plan to do that, which includes leaving the ECHR.”