Billionaire Man United owner says he has lost confidence in the UK

One of Britain's richest people, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, says he has lost confidence in the UK, describing the country as "on the slide".

The founder of petrochemical giant Ineos, who also owns a large stake in Manchester United, said the UK was in decline due to a combination of high taxes and high immigration.

He told the BBC failing to invest further in North Sea oil and gas amounted to "insanity" and warned gas storage was so low that the UK could "run out of gas" if there was a cold snap this winter.

In response to the billionaire's criticism, the government said it was working to deliver growth and that business investment had increased in the last two years.

A spokesperson said they did not foresee any problems with gas supply: "We have a diverse energy mix and are confident in our security of supply."

Sir Jim, whose wealth is estimated to be around £15bn, has prompted controversy in the past with his comments on immigration. He was a supporter of Brexit but has been a tax resident in Monaco since 2020.

The businessman's UK exit has been followed by other high-profile billionaires, including steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and most recently hedge-fund boss Chris Rokos.

Sir Jim said the politics of envy was driving people away from the UK.

"In America they applaud people who create wealth," he said. "Unfortunately the UK has got a bit of a green eye towards wealth at the moment."

He said for him to return to the UK "things would have to get better".

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he will take a "pragmatic approach" to oil and gas, but one of the biggest decisions facing the government, whether to give the go-ahead to further development of the oil and gas fields at Rosebank and Jackdaw, is still waiting to be resolved.

Sir Jim criticised the hesitation and suggested high taxes on North Sea operators were threatening the sector's viability. Tax on energy company profits is being reformed, but won't be fully implemented until 2030.

Ineos operates the Forties pipeline which transports about 30% of the UK's North Sea oil.

"You would expect [the government] to exploit our natural resources and we're clearly not doing that. We're shutting it down.

"If you tax everybody to death, they're all going to leave. And that's what's happening."

Recent climate data combined with record heatwaves have given weight to the argument against further exploitation of fossil fuels. However, political pressure has grown on the government to proceed with Rosebank and Jackdaw to support UK jobs, tax revenues and boost energy security.

Sir Jim backed those calls, saying it was "absurd" to import more energy than necessary.

The government spokesperson said that oil and gas would play an important role in the UK "for decades to come", but they added: "The transition to homegrown clean power is the only way to deliver energy and financial security for families and businesses."

Sir Jim warned that low gas storage levels in Europe posed a risk to the UK in the months ahead.

"If we have a really sharp cold spell, then there is conceivably the possibility that we'll run out of gas and have to switch industry off... our storage is not full," he said.

The UK does not typically store a great deal of gas, relying instead on LNG (liquidfied natural gas) and gas imports from Europe.

Energy specialist consultancy Cornwall Insight said that current gas storage levels in the EU were at about 69%, when typically they would be at 85% at this time of the year.

However, Adam Bell of consultancy Stonehaven, said supplies were unlikely to run short.

"We are down compared to where we normally would be but not what I'd regard as catastrophic," he said.

"The physical risk of running out of gas is relatively low, especially if Jackdaw gets the go ahead."

He said the main source of uncertainty was policy in the US, which supplies LNG to the UK.

Sir Jim was speaking in Denmark at the launch of the EU's first carbon capture and storage system (CCS). Ineos has invested in the scheme which is being subsidised by the Danish government and the EU.

He said he had hoped to develop CCS in the UK but there had not been enough government support.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) said the government had committed £21.7bn for CCS projects over 25 years, however, no projects are yet operational in the UK.

At the project in Esbjerg in the south west of Denmark, carbon captured from around the country arrives in huge zeppelin-like tanks before being pumped into a ship called Carbon Destroyer 1. It is then pumped into a depleted oil field nearly 200 miles off shore.

Critics say CCS is expensive, money that could be better used to invest in renewables rather than supporting continued fossil fuel use.

Sir Jim's critique of the UK is not limited to energy and tax policy. He said the country had at one time been "a fantastic place".

"We had the greatest empire in the world. We were a great people. We won two world wars," he said.

But he said immigration and welfare spending were both currently too high and that politicians had proved reluctant to tackle either.

"Nobody's tough enough to deal with the immigration problem. Nobody's tough enough to deal with the benefits problem. But somebody needs to do it," he said.

Earlier this year he caused controversy by saying the UK had been "colonised by immigrants".

He later offered an apology for "offending some people".

You can listen to the full interview here on the Big Boss Interview podcast with Simon Jack.