Racists stick together as Reform agree with Ratcliffe

Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe recently claimed that immigrants are “colonising” the UK. Critics – and anyone with a brain in their nut – quickly condemned the remarks as racist and deeply out of touch with Britain’s own colonial history.

Unsurprisingly, Reform MPs and figures on the far right quickly jumped on the bandwagon. While admitting Ratcliffe’s statistics were “mistaken,” Reform leader Nigel Farage maintained that the underlying argument holds up when judged against the dictionary definition of “colonise.”

Spoiler alert: No, it really fucking doesn’t.

Bro Farage literally just approved the term “colonised” to your face and you STILL softball him.

The mainstream media is complicit in the rise of the far right. https://t.co/iSGrPACvak

— JimmyTheGiant (@jimthegiant) February 13, 2026

Distraction tactics from the real ‘colonisers’

The Oxford Learners Dictionary definition of ‘colonise’ is:

to take control of an area or a country that is not your own, especially using force, and send people from your own country to live there.

It’s clear that immigrants have precious little control over their rights and freedoms in the UK, so it’s objectively clear that this statement is false. That’s even after disregarding the fake-news figures Ratcliffe and fellow racists are distributing.

Another mask falls as we hear #ManchesterUnited owner Jim #Ratcliffe showcasing his #racism. He has all that money and power and he still has to punch down. Too many on #socialwelfare too – by his reckoning. Too many rich #parasites by mine.
https://t.co/r5vWOgo0yy

— Kevin Doyle (@kevidoyle) February 13, 2026

As the Canary reported yesterday:

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, co-owner of Manchester United, has come under heavy criticism for saying that immigrants are “colonising” the UK. He 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.

The UK has been colonised by immigrants, really, hasn’t it?”

The racist shithead also claimed that the UK’s population grew by 12 million people in 5 years. That’s bollocks too, as BBC Verify reported:

“it’s actually increased by 2.7 million.”

And, that statistic doesn’t take into account the economic benefit of immigrants doing all the shitty jobs white people don’t want. And that, in turn, doesn’t take into account that we’re talking about people – people who have a right to safety and welcome.

Rich racists: the actual ‘colonisers’

Reform MPs are, of course, eagerly amplifying what can only be described as barely veiled racism.

Man Utd boss Sir Jim Ratcliffe is right on immigration and UK is being 'colonised,' claims Reform UK’s Nadhim Zahawi https://t.co/0gPS34NQ0u

— LBC (@LBC) February 13, 2026

In January, we reported on Oxfam’s latest research, which identified a direct correlation between shrinking civil liberties and rising billionaire handouts aimed at buying political influence:

In the UK specifically, the wealthiest 56 individuals hoard more money than 27 million ordinary people. In fact, in the UK:

The UK’s billionaires have seen in the last year their average wealth grow five times faster than inflation-adjusted earnings.
56 people in the UK – all billionaires – have a combined wealth greater than 27 million other people, 39 per cent of the population. The average growth of a UK billionaire’s wealth was £231mn in the last year.
The average UK billionaire will gain more wealth than the value of the UK’s average annual salary in less time than it takes to watch a premier league football match
On average a person in the richest 1% in the UK owns 456 times more wealth than a person in the poorest 50%. The poorest half holds just 4.6% of the wealth, while the richest 1% own 21.3%. In 2024 the wealthiest 1% of UK adults had wealth of at least £2,317,452 […]
This year, the total wealth of the UK’s billionaires grew by 11bn, an average of £30.3 mn a day. Meanwhile one in five people in the UK live in poverty.

Yet the far-right rarely highlight who profits from soaring costs in food, defence, and healthcare – areas Advance UK Ben Habib argues are making life harder for ordinary people.

Nor do they acknowledge how increased defence spending often destabilises other countries. In turn, worsening conditions that force people to migrate in the first place:

‘@Sir_Ratcliffe in a 14 minute interview with @SkyNews explained how policies being pursued in the UK and EU are destroying our ability to feed ourselves, defend ourselves and medically treat ourselves.

He set out how western civilisation is killing itself.

On the other hand…

— Ben Habib (@benhabib6) February 12, 2026

Another Reform cheerleader and former Tory MP Nadine Dorries delighted in coming to Ratcliffe’s defence:

Nadine Dorries of Reform UK defends Jim Ratcliffe’s disgraceful immigration remarks.

His statistics were wrong, the substance was wrong and the language was wrong- but he was RIGHT.

Errrh?

Complete and utter gibberish. #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/BkBcRsM874

— Deirdre Heenan (@deirdreheenan) February 12, 2026

Thankfully, ordinary people are seeing right through it:

Can there be more of a traitor to the UK than Jim Ratcliffe? He offshored enough tax money to fund 120,000 nurses. People like him are the reason life has become so difficult for so many Brits.

— Robert M. (@3drm) February 13, 2026

Reform keep telling us immigrants are the problem and that billionaires are the good guys who create wealth.
Genuinely think this narrative was the plan Farage Sky & Ratcliffe intended to push and instead it’s exposed tax dodging billionaires as the parasite ruining the country

— Sarah (@kokeshimum) February 12, 2026

What is it that first attracted you to billionaire, Jim Ratcliffe?

Reform UK – wealthy elites, cosplaying as working class, for the benefit of billionaires. https://t.co/iRtYHpZicp

— Don McGowan (@donmcgowan) February 12, 2026

If the UK is being ‘colonised’, it’s by super-rich billionaires who have bent politics to their will and are now cashing in on the consequences.

Featured image via Arne Musseler