Union barons activate Shabana Mahmood after Man United proprietor’s declare | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Britain has been “colonised by immigrants” who’re costing an excessive amount of cash, one of many nation’s richest males declared.

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

Sir Jim, who owns the chemical substances empire Ineos, stated: “You can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in.

“I imply, the UK has been colonised. It’s costing an excessive amount of cash,” he said.

“The UK has been colonised by immigrants, actually, hasn’t it? The inhabitants of the UK was 58 million in 2020, now it is 70 million. That’s 12 million folks.”

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 do not know whether or not it is simply the equipment that hasn’t allowed Keir to do it or, or he is possibly too good – I imply, Keir is a pleasant 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 previous 5 years was “akin to signing up to free movement”.

Net migration surged to a document excessive of 944,000 within the yr ending March 2023. In the yr to June 2024, it dropped to 649,000. In 2022, it hit a staggering 764,000.

But it fell to 204,000 because the variety of folks leaving the nation hit the very best stage for a century.

The variety of arrivals dropped beneath 1,000,000 for the primary time in three years in 2025. Some 1.47 million arrived within the UK in 2023.

This was fuelled by a rise in non-EU employees, abroad college students and folks arriving on the well being and social care visas.

The Conservatives, earlier than they left Government, banned care employees and overseas college students from bringing relations with them.

They additionally elevated the wage threshold for expert employee and household visas.

Labour final yr raised that once more and banned the abroad recruitment of care dwelling employees.

But fears the immigration disaster may result in a better welfare invoice have been laid naked after specialists from Oxford University’s Migration Observatory stated asylum claims made up 44% of internet migration within the yr to June.

And separate analysis – carried out by the Home Office – confirmed greater than half of refugees are unemployed. The employment price amongst refugees reaches 45% after two years and 48% after eight, growing fears they may price the taxpayer much more in advantages.

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

And Sir Jim stated Labour have to be ready to make “unpopular” adjustments.

He stated: “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 have acquired all the identical points with the nation. If you actually need to take care of the most important problems with immigration, with folks opting to take advantages quite than working for a residing, if you wish to take care of that, then you are going to need to do some issues that are unpopular, and present some braveness.”

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 instructed 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 stated: “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 instructed 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.”