🔗 Share this article

Before the recent £50m state rescue package for its Scottish plant, industrial firms controlled by tycoon Jim Ratcliffe were already awarded as much as £70m in UK state aid over the past four years.

Recent Revelations and Financial Support

According to government disclosures published this week, public funding to the Ineos group in the last year alone ranged from £16m and £38m. From August 2022 onwards, the company has obtained a total of £28m and £70m.

The government stepped in this week to grant Ineos with £50m to support its Scottish ethylene plant, fearing that otherwise the UK would lose its last remaining facility producing ethylene—a critical feedstock for plastics. Officials additionally supported a £75m credit guarantee, while Ineos committed to invest £30m of its private capital.

Refinery Shutdown and Broader Context

This intervention comes after Ineos closed the adjacent oil refinery in late 2024, costing 400 jobs—a move described as a huge blow to the local community and a political problem for the government.

Ratcliffe, who is worth $14.5bn, is understood to have requested government help in October. This appeal coincides with the wide-ranging Ineos group, controlled by the 73-year-old, has faced considerable economic strain, partly due to sharply increased energy costs in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In a sign of growing unease over its financial health, Fitch Ratings lowered Ineos's debt rating in September. Ratcliffe has also had to commit significant funds into his off-road vehicle venture and the turnaround of Manchester United, in which he holds a partial ownership.

Form of Support and Company Statements

Most the earlier government support was delivered in the form of tax breaks in exchange for “commitments to reduce energy use and CO2 output.” Figures for these relief schemes for Ineos's sites in Grangemouth and Hull are reported as ranges rather than precise figures.

An Ineos spokesperson said the aid did not represent “favourable terms” for the company, but was “awarded against strict criteria, and available to any UK business that qualifies.”

Although Ratcliffe thanked the government for the £50m support in an announcement, Ineos separately issued sharper remarks. In these, the billionaire launched a broadside against government policy, including carbon taxes levied on industrial users.

“The solution is not decarbonisation by deindustrialisation,” he stated. “Without a strong manufacturing base, the economy will falter. Soaring power prices and burdensome carbon levies are driving industry out of the UK at an unsustainable pace.”

In further comments, Ratcliffe described carbon taxes as “the most idiotic tax in the world,” arguing they put UK plants at a disadvantage against foreign rivals. Currently, most chemicals and plastics are not covered from the UK's planned carbon border adjustment mechanism.

Investment and Environmental Pledges

The Ineos representative further stated: “Ineos has invested over £400m at Grangemouth in the last five years to keep it as one of the most productive chemical plants in Europe and to protect skilled jobs. British industry has had a very difficult year, yet society depends on this industry every day. If we don't produce these critical products in the UK, they are imported instead, often from more polluting operations abroad.”

Colin Pritchard, head of sustainability for the company's Olefins & Polymers division, indicated the Grangemouth money would be used to enhance energy efficiency, cut carbon emissions, and boost overall performance.

He explained the site, which uses an processing unit running on North Sea gas and imported liquefied petroleum gas, had been under “intense strain” from rocketing energy costs and the UK's carbon taxes.

Records show that Ineos has previously received significant tax breaks from the EU, worth hundreds of millions of euros—interestingly while Ratcliffe was a leading supporter of the campaign for the UK to leave the EU.