🔗 Share this article

Before this week's £50m government bailout for its Scottish plant, industrial firms under the ownership of billionaire Jim Ratcliffe had already been granted as much as £70m in UK state aid over the past four years.

Recent Revelations and Financial Support

According to official data published this week, state aid to the Ineos group in the most recent year ranged from £16m and £38m. Since August 2022, the conglomerate has obtained a total of £28m and £70m.

Authorities intervened on Tuesday to provide Ineos with £50m to support its Scottish ethylene plant, fearing that without it 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 pledged to invest £30m of its own funds.

Refinery Shutdown and Wider Challenges

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

The billionaire, with an estimated net worth of $14.5bn, reportedly asked for government assistance in October. This appeal coincides with the wide-ranging Ineos group, controlled by the 73-year-old, has been under significant financial pressure, 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 Ineos Grenadier automotive project and efforts to revitalise the football club, in which he holds a partial ownership.

Nature of Aid and Official Responses

The majority of the earlier government support came in the form of tax breaks in return for “commitments to curb consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.” The value of these tax breaks for Ineos's plants in Grangemouth and Hull were given as estimates rather than exact amounts.

An Ineos spokesperson stated the aid did not constitute “special treatment” for the company, but was “awarded against strict criteria, and open to any UK business that qualifies.”

While 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, including carbon taxes paid by industrial users.

“The solution is not decarbonisation by deindustrialisation,” Ratcliffe wrote. “Lacking a robust manufacturing base, the economy will continue to decline. High energy costs and burdensome carbon levies are pushing industry out of the UK at an unsustainable pace.”

In further comments, Ratcliffe described carbon taxes as “an extremely foolish levy in the world,” arguing they put UK plants at a competitive disadvantage against foreign rivals. Currently, most chemicals and plastics are not covered from the UK's initial 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 maintain its status as one of the most efficient chemical plants in Europe and to protect 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 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, cut carbon emissions, and boost plant performance.

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

It has also been reported that Ineos has previously received substantial tax breaks from the EU, worth hundreds of millions of euros—interestingly while Ratcliffe was a prominent backer of the campaign for the UK to exit the European Union.