Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s claim that the UK is being ‘colonised’ by immigrants is striking, but is it right? Could it be just the first in a series of policy interventions from top business leaders on key national issues? It might be – Reform UK leader Nigel Farage recently suggested that after the local elections on Thursday 7 May 2026, his party will swell its ranks with a stream of business titans making well-qualified pronouncements on the nation’s woes.
To be honest, the track record of those seeking to make the transition from commerce to politics has not been stellar. Over the past 50 years, successful business leaders from Archie Norman of Asda and M&S to Michelle Mone of Ultimo have struggled to make a positive impact on UK politics. Really, only Michael Heseltine can be said to have done so – and even he endured a long period in the wilderness at the hands of Margaret Thatcher.
So it’s not a surprise that Sir Jim’s comments did not land as intended. He hoped to draw attention to the impact of the UK’s increasing welfare burden as a break on economic growth. It’s a perfectly reasonable point. It is also one made in this column at the time of the last budget, when Rachel Reeves made a conscious choice to ramp up welfare spending, increasing the cost of labour. If Sir Jim had stuck to the dangers of the size of the welfare, he would have been on safe ground. Instead he chose to use the ‘c word’ – colonise – to characterise the UK.
The consequence was that responses from the prime minister downwards focused on Sir Jim’s choice of verb. But amid all the opprobrium he triggered – not least given that he observes UK affairs from a vantage point as a tax exile in Monaco – the real question should be, was he right? Does the UK have too many workers, the right number or not nearly enough?
Does the UK need more workers?
Many in the food and drink industry – and indeed beyond it into the NHS and the care sector – would argue that, whatever the rights and wrongs of welfare, we simply don’t have enough available workers to fill all the jobs that need to be done to ensure the UK will be adequately fed in the years to come.
Certainly that’s the unanimous view of the four main industry representative organisations. They make complementary points. The NFU argues that the current figure of 30,000 seasonal worker visas “has simply not been big enough”. It calls for an immigration system “fit for the future of food production”. Both the BRC and the FDF say the industry is missing about 500,000 workers across the supply chain – a gap they claim can only be closed with the judicious use of overseas workers.
Meanwhile, UKHospitality repeatedly warns that labour scarcity means higher costs, driving bars and restaurants out of business on an almost daily basis. The wider national business organisations – the CBI, British Chambers of Commerce and Make UK – tell the same story.
Immigration today is the biggest, most contentious issue in UK politics. It’s as big and as divisive as Brexit was a decade ago. In fact, the closer one looks the more it seems possible that our exit from the European Union was really all about immigration. Perhaps that’s why hardly anyone now seems satisfied with the outcome of the Brexit saga.
How to approach immigration policy
We are left with a pretty significant divide in how to approach immigration policy over the coming years. Those like Ratcliffe, Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick and even some on the Labour benches believe the economic, cultural and social burdens of continued immigration is just too big for the UK to carry. Meanwhile, others seeking to produce food and drink – and sustain national health and care services in the face of an ageing population – worry just how long it will be possible to keep production and services going.
Resolving these issues is fiendishly difficult. They stir strong emotions and provoke often intemperate views, as Ratcliffe probably now realises. However, as an industry we must address the problems. We urgently need to put the case for employment and immigration policies which provide security and safety for all communities. At the same time we must find a way to open up labour markets to ensure we have a flexible, rewarding and skilled supply of workers.
The protectionist voices will grow ever louder, yet these will be the same critics who complain of food shortages when there’s no one to pick crops, or of fast rising prices when scarcity strikes. This is probably the most serious long-term problem which our wonderful industry faces. Do we have the courage to resolve it?
Ian Wright is a partner at Acuti Associates
No comments yet