Bridget Phillipson has criticised Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe after the billionaire said Britain was “on the slide” because of high taxes and immigration.
The Labour Party chairman said Sir Jim had surrendered the “moral high ground” by speaking out while living as a tax exile in Monaco, where he moved from the UK in 2020.
“I do think you lose the moral high ground in the argument you make… by making these kinds of pronouncements while choosing to make decisions that he is within his rights to make to become a tax exile,” Ms Phillipson told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
She also pointed to Sir Jim’s support for Brexit, saying: “That was over a decade ago now, but we’ve seen the impact of Brexit on our economy.”
Ms Phillipson said the Government was committed to improving Britain’s trading relationship with the European Union, which she described as central to delivering stronger economic growth.
She added that there were “strong signs” in business investment and said the economy had recorded good levels of growth, while acknowledging that more needed to be done.
Sir Jim, the founder of chemicals group Ineos, said Britain “was a fantastic place” but was now “on the slide” and that he had “no confidence” in the country.
“We had the greatest empire in the world. We were a great people. We won two world wars. We’re good, honest folk,” he told the BBC’s Big Boss Interview podcast.
“But unfortunately, at the moment, I think the UK is on the slide. It’s quite difficult to see how we arrest it.”
Asked which issues politicians should address, Sir Jim identified immigration and high taxes.
Ms Phillipson is the second Labour minister to rebuke him over the remarks. Treasury minister Torsten Bell said on social media that Sir Jim had a “patriotism problem”, accusing him of criticising Britain while complaining that he did not receive sufficiently large subsidies from it.
Mr Bell also said Sir Jim was lamenting damage to manufacturing caused by a Brexit he had supported.
Earlier this year, Sir Jim said the UK had been “colonised by immigrants”. He later said he was sorry if the remarks had offended some people.
