🔗 Share this article

Before the recent £50m state rescue package for its Scottish plant, industrial firms under the ownership of billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe had already been granted as much as £70m in UK state aid during the previous four-year period.

Latest Revelations and Bailout Package

According to government disclosures released this week, public funding to Ratcliffe's chemical empire in the most recent year was between £16m and £38m. Since August 2022, the company has received a total of £28m and £70m.

The government stepped in this week to grant Ineos with £50m to support its Grangemouth operations, concerned that otherwise the UK would cease to have its sole facility manufacturing ethylene—a vital raw material for plastics. Officials additionally supported a £75m loan guarantee, while Ineos committed to invest £30m of its private capital.

Plant Closure and Wider Challenges

This intervention arrives after Ineos shut down the adjacent oil refinery in September 2024, costing 400 jobs—a move described as a significant setback to the local community and a political problem for the government.

Ratcliffe, who is worth $14.5bn, reportedly asked for government help in October. The request comes at a time when the expansive Ineos group, controlled by the 73-year-old, has faced considerable economic strain, partly due to sharply increased energy costs following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In a sign of increasing concern over its ability to manage debt, the credit rating agency downgraded Ineos's credit rating in September. Ratcliffe has also had to commit significant funds into his off-road vehicle venture and efforts to revitalise Manchester United, in which he holds a partial ownership.

Form of Support and Official Responses

The majority of the previous state aid was delivered in the form of tax relief in exchange for “voluntary agreements to reduce energy use and CO2 output.” Figures for these tax breaks for Ineos's sites in Grangemouth and Hull are reported as ranges rather than precise figures.

An Ineos spokesperson stated the aid did not represent “special treatment” for the company, but was “granted based on strict criteria, and available to any UK business that qualifies.”

Although Ratcliffe thanked the government for the £50m support in an official statement, Ineos separately issued more critical comments. In these, the billionaire strongly criticised government policy, specifically carbon taxes paid by industrial users.

“The solution is not decarbonisation by deindustrialisation,” he stated. “Lacking a robust manufacturing base, the economy will continue to decline. Soaring power prices and burdensome carbon levies are pushing industry out of the UK at an alarming rate.”

In further comments, Ratcliffe labelled carbon taxes as “an extremely foolish levy in the world,” contending they put UK plants at a disadvantage against international competitors. It is noted that most chemicals and plastics are excluded from the UK's planned carbon border adjustment mechanism.

Investment and Environmental Pledges

The Ineos spokesperson further stated: “Ineos has invested over £400m at Grangemouth in the last five years to maintain its status as one of the most efficient chemical plants in Europe and to safeguard skilled jobs. British industry has had a very difficult year, yet everyone relies on this industry every day. If we don't produce these essential materials in the UK, they are brought in from overseas, often from higher-carbon production abroad.”

Colin Pritchard, head of sustainability for the company's Olefins & Polymers division, indicated the new funding would be used to enhance energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and upgrade plant performance.

He noted the site, which uses an processing unit running on North Sea gas and US-sourced liquefied petroleum gas, had been under “extreme pressure” from surging energy costs and the UK's carbon taxes.

It has also been reported that Ineos has previously received significant tax breaks from the EU, valued at hundreds of millions of euros—interestingly while Ratcliffe was a prominent backer of the campaign for the UK to leave the EU.