🔗 Share this article

Before this week's £50m government bailout for its Grangemouth facility, industrial firms controlled by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe were already awarded as much as £70m in UK state aid during the previous four-year period.

Recent Revelations and Financial Support

According to official data published recently, public funding to the Ineos group in the most recent year ranged from £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 lose its sole facility producing ethylene—a vital raw material for plastics. The government also backed a £75m credit guarantee, while Ineos committed to invest £30m of its own funds.

Plant Closure and Wider Challenges

This intervention arrives following Ineos closed the adjacent oil refinery in September 2024, resulting in the loss of 400 jobs—a move described as a significant setback to the area and a political problem for the government.

The billionaire, with an estimated net worth of $14.5bn, reportedly requested government help in October. The request comes at a time when the expansive Ineos group, controlled by the 73-year-old, has faced significant financial pressure, in part due to sharply increased energy costs following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In a sign of increasing concern over its financial health, Fitch Ratings downgraded Ineos's debt rating in September. Ratcliffe has also been required to invest substantial resources into his off-road vehicle venture and the turnaround of Manchester United, in which he holds a partial ownership.

Nature of Aid and Company Statements

Most the earlier government support was delivered in the form of tax relief in exchange for “commitments to curb consumption and CO2 output.” The value of these relief schemes for Ineos's plants in Grangemouth and Hull were given as estimates rather than precise figures.

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

Although Ratcliffe publicly welcomed the £50m support in an official statement, Ineos also released sharper remarks. In these, the industrialist launched a broadside against government policy, specifically carbon taxes paid by industrial users.

“The answer is NOT decarbonisation by deindustrialisation,” Ratcliffe wrote. “Without a strong manufacturing base, the economy will falter. Soaring power prices and punitive carbon charges are pushing industry out of the UK at an alarming rate.”

Speaking elsewhere, Ratcliffe labelled carbon taxes as “the most idiotic tax in the world,” contending they put UK plants at a disadvantage against foreign rivals. Currently, most chemicals and plastics are excluded from the UK's planned carbon import tax.

Investment and Environmental Pledges

The Ineos representative further stated: “Ineos has invested over £400m at Grangemouth in the last five years to maintain its status as one of the most productive chemical plants in Europe and to safeguard skilled jobs. The UK chemicals sector has had a brutal year, yet everyone relies on this industry every day. Should we fail to manufacture these essential materials in the UK, they are imported instead, often from more polluting operations abroad.”

Colin Pritchard, head of sustainability for the company's chemicals unit, said the new funding would be used to improve energy efficiency, cut carbon emissions, and boost overall performance.

He explained 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 in the past obtained substantial 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.