🔗 Share this article

Prior to the recent £50m government bailout for its Grangemouth facility, chemical companies under the ownership of tycoon Sir Jim Ratcliffe were already awarded as much as £70m in British government support during the previous four-year period.

Recent Disclosures and Financial Support

According to official data released this week, public funding to the Ineos group 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 on Tuesday to grant Ineos with £50m to prop up its Grangemouth operations, concerned that otherwise the UK would cease to have its last remaining facility manufacturing ethylene—a vital raw material for plastics. The government also backed a £75m credit guarantee, while Ineos committed to invest £30m of its private capital.

Refinery Shutdown and Wider Challenges

This intervention comes after Ineos closed the adjacent oil refinery in September 2024, costing 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, is understood to have requested government help in October. The request coincides with the expansive Ineos group, under the control of the 73-year-old, has been under considerable economic strain, in part due to soaring energy costs in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Reflecting increasing concern over its financial health, the credit rating agency lowered Ineos's debt 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 minority stake.

Nature of Aid and Official Responses

Most the earlier government support came in the form of tax breaks in return for “voluntary agreements to curb consumption and CO2 output.” Figures for these tax breaks for Ineos's plants in Grangemouth and Hull are reported as ranges rather than precise figures.

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

Although Ratcliffe thanked the government for the £50m support in an official statement, Ineos also released more critical comments. In these, the billionaire launched a broadside against government policy, specifically 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 punitive carbon charges are driving industry out of the UK at an unsustainable pace.”

Speaking elsewhere, Ratcliffe described carbon taxes as “the most idiotic tax in the world,” arguing they place UK plants at a disadvantage against foreign rivals. It is noted that most chemicals and plastics are not covered from the UK's planned carbon border adjustment mechanism.

Investment and Sustainability Claims

The Ineos representative added: “Ineos has invested over £400m at Grangemouth in the last five years to keep it as one of the most efficient chemical plants in Europe and to protect skilled jobs. British industry 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.”

A senior Ineos executive, head of sustainability for the company's Olefins & Polymers division, said the new funding would be used to improve energy efficiency, cut carbon emissions, and upgrade plant performance.

He explained the site, which uses an ethylene cracker utilising North Sea gas and US-sourced liquefied petroleum gas, had been under “extreme pressure” from rocketing energy costs and the UK's carbon taxes.

Records show that Ineos has in the past obtained substantial tax breaks from the EU, valued at hundreds of millions of euros—notably while Ratcliffe was a prominent backer of the campaign for the UK to exit the European Union.