The billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has said he can see why rich people are leaving the UK, describing the country as “on the slide”.
Sir Jim, who owns the petrochemicals giant Ineos, claimed a combination of high taxes and high immigration is forcing the UK into decline, and that the government’s “green eye” towards wealth is driving the highest earners away.
His remarks follow departures by some of the country’s highest earners, including billionaire hedge fund founder Chris Rokos, who is reportedly moving to Greece amid fears of tax rises in chancellor John Healey’s autumn Budget.
Sir Jim said the UK’s attitude towards wealth is driving exceptionally high earners to countries with more favourable tax prospects.
“In America they applaud people who create wealth,” he added. “Unfortunately the UK has got a bit of a green eye towards wealth at the moment.”
He said for him to return to the UK “things would have to get better”, adding the UK had “once been a fantastic place”.
The Manchester United owner is worth around £15bn and left the UK in 2018 to become a tax resident in Monaco. He was a prominent backer of Brexit and was Britain’s richest man at the time of his exit.
He told the BBC’s Big Boss Interview: “I think the UK, unfortunately, it was a fantastic place.
“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.
“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.”
Sir Jim also warned that failure to invest in North Sea oil and gas is “insanity” and that gas storage was so low that the UK could “run out of gas” if there was a cold snap this winter. In response, the government said it is “confident” in the robustness of its gas supply.
It comes after Andy Burnham insisted he was “determined” to reach net zero by 2050.
The prime minister faces pressure from both sides over looming decisions on whether to approve the controversial Jackdaw and Rosebank fields.
Climate campaigners have urged him to block the proposed new developments in the North Sea while the oil and gas industry and opposition politicians have argued they would create thousands of jobs and cut bills.
Permission for one or both would throw his commitment to net zero into question.
Meanwhile, asked what issues politicians should focus on, Sir Jim said immigration was “clearly one” as well as high taxes.
“We had the greatest empire in the world. We were a great people. We won two world wars,” he told the BBC.
But he criticised politicians for a reluctance to act on what he called the “immigration problem” and the “benefits problem”.
“Nobody’s tough enough to deal with the immigration problem. Nobody’s tough enough to deal with the benefits problem. But somebody needs to do it,” he said.
In a separate interview with the Sunday Times, he urged prime minister Andy Burnham to make “tough” cuts to improve Britain, likening it to his project at Manchester United where he slashed 450 jobs and introduced a series of cost-cutting measures including shuttering the staff canteen.
“If you think about the press that we got, it was really difficult, really unpleasant,” he said. “But we got on and did what we thought was good for the club, not what we thought would be good for me in the newspapers,” he said. “And now we’re reaping the benefits of that because we’re the most profitable club in the world, and in future we can think about investing that wisely.”
Manchester United has experienced mixed results since Sir Jim’s regime began, with several underwhelming campaigns culminating in a third-place Premier League finish last season.
Sir Jim attracted criticism earlier this year after he said the UK had been “colonised by immigrants”.
He later issued a statement saying he was sorry if those remarks had “offended some people”, with then-prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and then-mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham among those who condemned them.
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