Farage to meet Manchester United owner as Reform woos business chiefs | OneFootball

Nigel Farage is set to meet the billionaire owner of Manchester United before Christmas as Reform UK doubles down on its drive to woo business chiefs.

The Reform leader will try to win over Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the founder of chemicals giant Ineos, who has amassed an estimated fortune of around £20bn.

Sir Jim, who has been a fierce critic of Britain’s net zero drive, which Mr Farage and Reform also oppose, disclosed details of the meeting on a podcast.

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The Reform leader requested the meeting (PA)

Speaking to The Times’s The Business, he said Mr Farage requested the meeting and that he has also met Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

Sir Jim lashed out at energy secretary Ed Miliband’s plans to remove fossil fuels from the electricity supply this decade and the government’s 2050 net zero target, describing the goals as “absurd”.

And he said the plans would put more than a million jobs at risk over the next 10 years.

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Jim Ratcliffe said he would not donate to Reform (PA)

“You could probably multiply that by 10 if you look at all the indirect jobs that are related in terms of services. It’s probably 10 million jobs in Europe and three-quarters of a trillion euros in value,” he told the podcast.

But, despite alignment with some of Mr Farage’s views on the government’s net zero agenda, Sir Jim ruled out donating any money to Reform.

He said: “I’ve always been ­neutral on political parties. I’ve never had a preference one way or another. I just want one that runs the country well. I can’t see myself paying for ­policies.”

Sir Jim described Sir Keir Starmer as “a reasonable bloke” and “a nice man”. He added: “I’m not sure it’s easy to manage his party. But you have to make some tough ­decisions and I don’t know whether he is maybe a bit too nice.”

And he said Britain is a “high tax, high immigration, high crime” country, and that “if you look at why Trump won, on tax, ­immigration and the economy, and the current government, for whatever ­reason, isn’t delivering on those areas”.

When asked whether he would support Mr Farage, Sir Jim said: “I think most people would support him if he could sort those things [the economy, crime and taxation].”