Man United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe backs Keir Starmer and slates Tories on Brexit and economy
Manchester United owner and billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has backed Keir Starmer and said the Tories have had a "good run".
Sir Jim, who is chief executive of chemicals company Ineos, has said Britain needs a change of Government and confirmed he has "no questions" the Labour leader will do a "very good job at running the country". The minority owner of Man United football club, who backed Brexit, said leaving the EU hadn't worked out and blamed Tory PMs for their handling of it.
Sir Jim, who met with Mr Starmer for talks at Old Trafford stadium last week, told Sky News: "I'm sure Keir will do a very good job at running the country - I have no questions about that. There's no question that the Conservatives have had a good run. I think most of the country probably feels it's time for a change. And I sort of get that, really."
Billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, chairman and founder of Ineos Group Holdings Plc, attends the official launch event of the Team Ineos cycling group in Ilkley, U.K., on Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Following its recent purchase of Team Sky, Ineos has said it's in talks to invest in OGC Nice, the French Ligue 1 soccer club. Photographer: Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Sir Jim attacked the Tories over their handling of the economy, saying: "The UK does need to get a bit sharper on the business front. I think the biggest objective for the government is to create growth in the economy.
"There's two parts of the economy, there's the services side of the economy and there's the manufacturing side. And the manufacturing, unfortunately, has been sliding away now for the last 25 years."
On Brexit, he continued: "Brexit sort of unfortunately didn't turn out as people anticipated because… Brexit was largely about immigration. That was the biggest component of that vote... I mean, no small island like the UK could cope with vast numbers of people coming into the UK.
"That's what Brexit was all about and nobody's implemented that. They just keep talking about it. But nothing's been done, which is why I think we'll finish up with the change of government."
It comes after Sebastian James, the Managing Director of Boots UK, featured in a video at the Labour leader's campaign launch supporting the party's plans for economic stability. Mr James, who was in the elite Oxford Bullingdon Club with David Cameron and Boris Johnson, spoke about his hopes for the future with Labour at the event in Essex last week.