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Sir Jim Ratcliffe 'loses confidence in UK' | Should Britain stand up to its billionaires?
Sep 21, 2026
One of Britain's richest businessmen has revealed he "no longer has confidence" in the UK because of its culture of envy towards wealth.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, owner of Manchester United and founder of chemicals giant Ineos, who relocated to Monaco from the UK in 2020, said the UK government had "a bit of a green eye towards wealth at the moment" which was "encouraging" the wealthiest to relocate.
It comes after Britain's third- biggest taxpayer, hedge fund tycoon Chris Rokos, revealed his decision to leave the UK for Greece earlier this month.
Matthew Wright questions whether we should start listening to our billionaires.
00:00 Matthew Wright says that if Ratcliffe lived in the UK, 'he would know that net migration is down 82% since 2024 and that boat crossings are down some 40% this year'.
03:50 Millionaire investor Julia Davies asks why Sir Jim Ratcliffe is criticising the state that he 'massively benefited from'.
09:31 Silvia Andreoletti, Head of Communications at the Adam Smith Institute, says we need to listen to what billionaires are saying because they are essential to funding British industry.
12:55 Texter Pamela makes Matthew chuckle.
13:28 Caller David says the billionaire's comments are 'all a little woe is me'.
16:58 Caller Richard has a suggestion for billionaires leaving the UK: tax British citizens living overseas.
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
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0:00
Our proud patriotic billionaire tax avoider Jim Ratcliffe has been slagging Britain off again
0:05
which makes me wonder why the media is so keen to give him a platform, why we're so beholden
0:13
to the thoughts of billionaires who don't seem to contribute to this country. It can't be good
0:19
for Britain. It can't be good for Britons, frankly, to keep hearing their favourite non-dom
0:24
tax-avoiding billionaire slating the country of his birth time and again. At least one of our
0:29
other tax-avoiding non-DOM billionaires, Richard Branson has the decency to keep talking
0:33
up the country he left to avoid paying his fair share to the taxman. Ratcliffe's claim that Britain is on the slide
0:40
that's what he said yesterday, seems based entirely on the fact that our shift to
0:43
renewable energy is going to potentially limit his profits as his company
0:48
Ineos operates the Fortis pipeline which transports about 30% of the UK's North Sea oil
0:54
Ratty's damning of his birth country wasn't limited just to our energy and tax policy
1:00
He said the country had at one time been a fantastic place. And to quote him directly, he said
1:06
we have the greatest empire in the world. We were a great people. We won two world wars
1:11
But he said immigration and welfare spending were both too high and that politicians have proved reluctant rather to tackle either
1:19
Nobody's tough enough to deal with the immigration problem, he said. Nobody's tough enough to deal with the benefits problem
1:24
but somebody needs to do it. earlier this year. Of course, he caused a
1:28
controversy by saying the UK had been colonised by immigrants, a comment for which
1:32
he later apologised. I mean, Rassi does seem completely unaware that he himself is
1:39
a migrant, living in the billionaire council estate that is Monaco. He seems completely unaware that the empire
1:46
of which he was so proud was propped up by the blood and sweat of millions and millions
1:50
of foreigners whose countries we invaded and controlled. Foreigners? Fomi now has no time at all these days
1:57
He seems unaware that net migration is down 82% since 2024 and that boat crossings are down some 40% this year
2:05
Maybe if he actually lived here, which would, of course, necessitate Rassi paying into the system
2:11
he might know this stuff. 0345 6060 973, the number for your thoughts
2:17
True, his business acumen provides lots of jobs, but Brexit, which he loudly supported
2:22
has seriously harmed the UK economy and has been blamed for destroying as many as 2 million jobs to date
2:29
Not that Ratty's bothered, because, of course, he scuttled off to Monaco a couple of years after the Brexit vote
2:34
And he's not the only one that did that, of course. James Dyson moved his business overseas too after championing Brexit
2:41
Ratcliffe has a ready answer when asked why he's left Britain and thus no longer contributes to the NHS
2:46
our schools, roads or anything else. He said the politics of envy was driving people like him away from the UK
2:52
In America, he said, they applaud people who create wealth. Unfortunately, the UK got a bit of a green eye towards wealth at the moment
3:00
I mean, they may applaud people who get rich in the United States, but they also have, I think, 45,000 citizens every year
3:06
that die for lack of any medical care. Medical care, which, of course, is free here
3:11
but no thanks to Ratty, who makes me sick. 03456060973 is the number for your thoughts on Jim Ratcliffe
3:20
and really more than Jim Ratcliffe. just these billionaires. We've got billionaires donating to reform
3:28
based abroad. And I just wonder if we're happy. Why we want these people, these money men
3:36
to... Why we platform them? Why we allow them to either interfere in our democracy
3:41
or slag our country off? There must be something wrong with us, isn't there? Now, in a moment, I'll be talking to
3:47
Sylvia Andrioletti from the Adam Smith Institute. but first I'm joined by Julia Davies
3:52
the founding member of Patriotic Millionaires UK. Always a pleasure to see you, Julia
3:58
I was sitting with someone at lunch yesterday and I hadn't even seen the Jim Ratcliffe stuff at the time
4:03
and he said, billionaires are what's ruining this country and then I see what Jim Ratcliffe has said
4:08
and I thought, oh, maybe he's got a point. What do you make of Jim Ratcliffe speaking from..
4:12
He was in Denmark, wasn't he? He'd gone from Monaco to Denmark for these words. Oh, I've just been sat here giggling with you
4:18
because you've just said everything that I was about to say. What do I say? And, you know
4:24
the one thing that sort of the gym kind of got right is that, yes, things used to be a bit better
4:31
in this country. And he massively benefited from that because he grew up in a council house. So in
4:36
a house that was paid for by the state, he went to a state school. So in a school that was paid for
4:41
by the state and then he went to university at a time when fees were free you know so he massively benefited from the tax contribution of other British people So he massively benefited from the state And now you know at the time when he could be giving back as you rightly said he chose not to
4:58
He's talking about, you know, this benefit problem. Well, his company is a massive benefit problem because his company has quite happily put its cap out and taken hundreds of millions of pounds in benefits from this government
5:12
So he's happy for this incredibly wealthy man who estimated wealth about 17 billion
5:18
He's really happy for his companies to take benefits from this government
5:22
And he's not happy for working people who are working really, really hard on low wages, taking some benefits, feeding their kids and put the heating on
5:30
and you know he's focusing on the fact that we have this benefits problem but the truth is you
5:36
know and as you said he doesn't really know because he's not in the UK very much our benefits bill
5:41
overall hasn't really you know it's been relatively stable in proportion to other metrics and of course
5:46
you know a really big chunk of the money that goes out from our government goes to our pensioners
5:52
who quite rightly you know they've worked hard they paid into the system and as we've got an
5:56
aging population, of course, we're going to have to pay out more to look after our pensioners. And
6:00
that's the right thing to do. So you have to ask yourself when you have somebody who's now in his
6:07
70s, he's got 17 billion. And his focus isn't what can I do? What can I give back to my country
6:13
that's made to make that wealth? You know, how can I protect younger generations now when I had
6:19
this fantastic start in life? You know, my country gave me that fantastic start in life that launched
6:24
me on this amazing career for me that enabled me to mass all of this incredible wealth. What can I
6:30
do? He's not thinking about that. He's thinking, oh, no, this country is now actually getting around
6:34
to taking climate change seriously to protect the lives of everybody, in particular younger
6:40
generations. And that might affect my ability to make even more money. You know, what does this man
6:46
in his 70s need even more money for when he's not using that money to protect his own country
6:51
presumably the guy's got grandchildren he's not thinking about the future of those grandchildren
6:56
he's thinking about now in my 70s with 17 billion pounds in wealth i want more money it just it it's
7:04
really difficult for most to understand that and i you asked why why um we allow these people to
7:11
say that well i was asked i was asking myself why do these people that have chosen to do something
7:17
which most people would consider incredibly antisocial. So they've made huge amounts of money in Britain
7:23
And then when they're able to make, you know, to contribute back, they choose to move their tax residency abroad
7:28
Why do they want to talk about that and try and convince us that all wealthy people are going to do that
7:33
Because I think in their hearts, they know it's incredibly antisocial and not normal human behaviour
7:38
So they want to convince us that it is. I am also, like you, absolutely flummoxed
7:45
as to why someone who has so much only wants more. I noticed that one of the Doan brothers
7:51
you know, the gambling tycoons, gave an interview in the Financial Times basically saying the same thing
7:59
Can you explain, because obviously most of us have never, you know, experienced that kind of money
8:06
Can you explain what's going on in the head? Why just more and more
8:10
and not any desire apparently to give back? well the thing is that they he clearly is not a happy man is he i mean sound like it there's a lot
8:19
of people that their dream is to be able to buy a football season ticket for their team this guy
8:24
you know was able to buy his team you know he's got everything and it's not making the guy happy
8:29
and and i think what what it gets to is that the only thing that you know they can think about is
8:34
making more and more money and maybe they think that finally that's going to make them happy but
8:38
actually you know what normal people you know people with sort of you know like functioning
8:42
hearts and that kind of thing could tell them is you get happiness from actually caring about the
8:48
people around you and and helping them there is nothing more joyful than helping other people
8:54
helping good things happen helping good people do good things and you know jim you know i would say
9:01
to the guy you need to go and spend some time with good people and actually understand how fantastic
9:07
britain is you know um apparently the guy quite likes sort of sporting sports and that kind of
9:12
thing, go along to your local park run and see people who, they work all week and then
9:17
they send a Saturday morning. He would have the problem of he only has a limited number of days he can spend in the
9:24
country, of course, otherwise he'd have to pay tax. Julia Davies absolute pleasure talking Such strong strong views there Let see what Sylvia Andrioletti has to say Head of Communications at the Adam Smith Institute Nice to see you Sylvia What do you make of a non tax billionaire slagging off this country
9:45
I mean, I think his comments resonate very much both for anyone who's been paying attention
9:51
to sort of the sorry state of the UK economy in the past few years, but also to the average Brit
9:56
I mean, polling that the Adam Smith Institute recently ran shows that over half of people think that the UK is hostile to those who want to build wealth and be successful
10:06
And I think that the bottom line is that we might not sort of like these foreign billionaires lagging off our country, but we need them
10:13
Right. We need the wealth they create. We need the jobs they create. We need their talent, their entrepreneurship. We need them to fund British industry
10:20
And so we need to be listening to what they are saying. If they are saying that they cannot stay in Britain because taxes are too high, regulations are too difficult, they don't want to invest money in there
10:30
And that's something that we need to be receptive to because if we don't, it would just mean that many more people keep leaving
10:36
He cheerleaded for Brexit, which cost two million jobs, far more jobs than he has created his entire lifetime, and then left the country to avoid paying a four billion pound tax bill
10:46
I mean, and you wonder why people in this country don't like billionaires
10:50
but i'm i'm not sure that that's directly related to brexit um i think that he was seeing that
10:59
wealth taxes inheritance taxes all sorts of taxes are rising which have nothing to do with brexit
11:03
really because when you when you have when you have an eight percent knock on your gdp you have
11:07
to find more money so you have to find more taxes so you could argue that the increased taxes are a
11:12
direct result of the brexit that he argued for you could argue that but i wouldn't i would argue
11:17
If you want more taxes, then you need to draw wealth creators into the country, right
11:22
If you have more millionaires, then you can lower taxes and you just have more people to tax, essentially
11:28
Well, right now we're doing the opposite. We're raising and raising taxes and we're having taxpayers leave
11:32
So in the end, you've basically got nobody else to tax. OK. I know that the Adamsworth Institute is notoriously shy about saying who sponsors it and funds it
11:44
Does Jim Ratcliffe give you any money? Sorry? Is Sir Jim Ratcliffe one of the sponsors of the Adam Smith Institute
11:54
I can't comment on that. I don't believe so. So, you can't comment or...
11:59
I actually don't know. You don't know. We don't take any government funding. You don't know who funds you
12:05
You don't know who funds you. What a strange position to be in. Because you could end up, of course
12:09
representing the voice of someone like Sir Jim Ratcliffe. If you don't know..
12:14
I mean, it's possible, because a lot of big money people buy into think tanks
12:19
it is possible, isn't it, that you could actually be voicing the thoughts of Sir Jim Ratcliffe via your institute
12:25
It is possible, but, you know, if he does fund us, then I don't know
12:28
which probably tells you how much I'm being honest in this interview. You know, I'm not being paid by him. If I am, I wouldn't know
12:35
So I'm defending him because that's what I truly believe. OK. Sylvia Andrew, actually, pleasure talking to you this morning
12:40
Sylvia there from the Adam Smith Institute. So what do we make of our non-dom billionaires
12:45
slagging off this country? Were you moved at all by what you heard from Julia Davies
12:52
or do you just think it's his money? He can do what he likes. Pamela made me chuckle
12:58
She says, I'm a proud patriot. There's nothing that could induce me
13:02
to put my own financial interests above my country. Ratcliffe is no hero. He's a zero
13:07
I can look myself in the mirror every morning, And I can say, you live a compassionate, caring and collaborative life
13:14
You give back what you were given. By the way, I'm far, far richer than the likes of Ratcliffe, Dyson and Tice
13:22
And that is with £97.50 cash to my name. Oh, bless you, Pamela
13:28
David's on the line in Leicester. Morning to you, David. Morning, Matthew
13:32
Morning. Yeah, it's all a bit woe is me from these billionaires, really
13:38
even with like the maximum of the purported rumoured tax changes they'll still be taking home annually more money
13:45
than the majority of the population will see in their lifetimes. It's just pure naked greed that's causing them to leave
13:51
How much money do they actually need? How much can they spend? I mean, Julia Davies put that so well
14:00
and the pleasure that comes from giving back and I mean, I know he's given money I think to the London Business School
14:07
and such like. But, you know, when you think of the interest return on 17 billion
14:11
it's just absolutely mind-blowing. I think I looked yesterday that it something like 40 million per billion every year So yes lots and lots of millions Now what I suppose I really want to get to this is what my colleague was telling me over lunch yesterday
14:28
that we seem to be utterly beholden to billionaires. They are, whether they be American tech bros
14:37
and our latest growth figures based almost entirely on AI, almost all of it to service the United States
14:45
You've got the billionaires, Branson, Ratcliffe, who've chosen to leave their country
14:53
Why are we so beholden? Is it because we think that they've made money
14:58
therefore they're a genius? It's purely the size of the tax bill they give, to be honest
15:03
There's no other reason for it. Otherwise, what could it possibly otherwise be
15:09
They're giving so much money to the Treasury but, you know, they feel like they have to be appeased all the time
15:16
It's just that... OK, so when I was doing well on telly, you know, the money comes in
15:21
Literally, and how do I say this? It's more than I could spend, you know, on stuff
15:28
Paid all my taxes, you know, which were huge. I still end up, you know, with, you know
15:35
a fair bit in the bank from savings. I was a fraction of what Jim Radcliffe said for a tiny fraction
15:41
And I just, you get the point of, you know, how many houses does someone need
15:46
I don't know, Jonathan read every once. It says seven or eight houses. Fresh flowers
15:50
I always take issue with them being called wealth creators, like it's some nice fluffy term that they're a big benefit to everyone
15:57
But really, they're only creating wealth for themselves. But why are we... The trickle-down economics doesn't work
16:01
But why are we, as a people, so enthralled by them? It's the amount of money they can donate to the political parties
16:10
and the amount that they give to the Treasury. They feel like they must be appeased at all costs
16:15
otherwise they will take their money and leave, which is, it's a moral problem on the billionaires' front
16:20
A moral problem on the billionaires' front. I'm inclined to agree, David
16:25
I wonder if any billionaires are listening and they could shed some light on it
16:28
I know two guys that are three-quarter billionaires, almost to billionaires, and one of them, Richard Farley
16:36
who was in the original Dragon's Den, And when I first met him, I can remember asking him
16:41
do you have a boat? Do you have a mega yacht? And he said, I'm not an idiot
16:46
You know, he liked giving back. He grew up on the back of a pickup truck in Australia
16:51
Two of his siblings died of malnutrition. You know, he knows poverty and he gives back
16:57
David, pleasure talking to you. Let's go quickly over to Richard in San Remo in Italy
17:01
Morning, Richard. Good morning, Matthew. Thanks for taking my call. Thanks for calling
17:06
I'm a bit nervous. It's the first time I've called. I've got what I hope is a straightforward solution to the Ratcliffe, Harbourn, Dyson, Rodhamire problem
17:16
And that is that all UK citizens, anybody with a UK passport, should be fully liable for UK taxes or worldwide income and assets
17:25
Am I right in thinking that, I know, I think the United States does that
17:30
I think many, many countries tax their citizens wherever they are in the world
17:35
Yeah, I think so. If I recall correctly, Boris Johnson used to be a US citizen
17:40
but when they came after him for taxes, he handed his passport back. Is that right
17:44
So perhaps Mr Harbourn, Mr Rothermere, Mr Dyson, and Mr Ratcliffe might love to do the same
17:51
Okay. So, can you just, before I let you go, tell me why we as a nation are so enthralled, beholden to these billionaires
18:00
Well, I think it's because there's an establishment of billionaires and etc
18:06
who basically control the media and control the dialogue. I've also got a suggestion about what to do about these huge payments
18:16
coming into political parties from overseas. Go on. I believe that one of Reform's policies is that they want to extend
18:24
from five years to ten years, i.e. retrospectively, the ability for people who come to the UK
18:30
normal people who come to the UK, to become a resident. And I suggest that anybody who wants to contribute
18:35
to political funding in the UK should have been a 10-year tax resident
18:43
Ooh, ooh, I like that. Oh, yes. I mean, they'll never pass
18:49
because of course all the billionaires live abroad to avoid tax, and they're the ones that are paying in
18:54
But if we had a so-minded leader, I think that's the solution
19:02
They'd have to be here paying tax for 10 years before you can make a contribution
19:06
Richard, thank you
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