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The co-owner of Manchester United Sir Jim Ratcliffe has described the UK as being a country “on the slide” from the days when it had “the greatest empire in the world”.
Ratcliffe, who founded petrochemicals giant Ineos, and has resided in Monaco, which has a relaxed tax regime, since 2020, said Britain is in decline because of high taxes and immigration.
Ratcliffe’s latest attack on the UK comes seven months after he told Sky News that the country was being “colonised by immigrants”. He subsequently said he was sorry if those remarks had “offended some people”.
The billionaire told the BBC’s Big Boss Interview he believed the UK was in decline from the days when, he said, “we were a great people”.
He said: “We had the greatest empire in the world. We were a great people. We won two world wars. We’re good, honest folk. But unfortunately, at the moment, I think the UK is on the slide. It’s quite difficult to see how we arrest it.”
Ratcliffe also said the UK had “a bit of a green eye towards wealth at the moment”, “encouraging” the wealthiest to relocate.
He told the podcast: “In America, they applaud people who create wealth.
“And the good thing about those people who create wealth is that they then spend that wealth in the economy in which they’re resident. And, unfortunately, with the things that they’ve been doing, they’ve been encouraging the people who have created wealth to leave the UK because it’s just become uncomfortable for them for tax reasons or whatever.
While the UK’s tax burden has risen to its highest level since the second world war at about 35.3% of GDP, the Office for Budget Responsibility says it remains well below the average of 14 western European economies.
Ratcliffe has also been at odds with Manchester United fans over the summer after the club embarked on a major ticket-touting crackdown that ultimately revoked 685 season tickets, prompting protests from United supporter groups such as the 1958.
The businessman was already fiercely unpopular among the Old Trafford faithful, ever since he decided to increase ticket prices and sack 450 club employees.
The billionaire also took aim at the government’s decision not to invest further in North Sea resources by granting licences for the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gasfields, which he said amounted to “insanity”, and warned the UK’s reliance on energy imports meant the country could “run out of gas” if there was a cold spell this winter.
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He said: “The risk you’ve got this winter is that we run out of gas. If we have a really sharp cold spell, then there is conceivably the possibility that we’ll run out of gas and have to switch the industry off.”
In response to the billionaire’s criticism, the government said it was working to deliver growth and that business investment had increased in the last two years.
A spokesperson told the BBC that they did not foresee any problems with gas supply: “We have a diverse energy mix and are confident in our security of supply.”
Asked if he was planning on returning to the UK, Ratcliffe said: “Not at the moment, no. I don’t see growth being tackled.
“Two things: we need politicians who are tough enough to deal with some very difficult problems, and we know what the problems are.
“And we need politicians who will make decisions which are good for the country, not good for themselves and their party. And we haven’t had one of those for a long time.”
