Sir Jim Ratcliffe spoke on a “profound and unprecedented” rise in immigration to Britain in recent years.As one of the country’s richest and most influential men now residing in Monaco, the owner of chemical giant Ineos claimed the UK has been “colonised” by foreigners draining resources from the state”.He warned Britain faces “profound political, social and economic challenges”, among them an “unprecedented” rise in net migration in recent years.”You can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in,” he told Sky News. “I mean, the UK has been colonised. It’s costing too much money.”The UK has been colonised by immigrants, really, hasn’t it?”The population of Britain was estimated at 58.9 million in 2000, with the Office for National Statistics estimating the population had risen to some 67 million in mid-2020 and 70 million by mid-2024.Sir Jim added: “I don’t know whether it’s just the apparatus that hasn’t allowed Keir to do it 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.”Having recently met with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, Sir Jim described the Clacton MP as an “intelligent man” with “good intentions”.“You could say exactly the same about Keir Starmer,” he continued. “I think it needs somebody who’s prepared to be unpopular for a period of time to get the big issues sorted out.”He admitted his own “unpopularity” serving at Manchester United, due to changes he has made “for the better”.”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”.