Chemical Firms Owned by Tycoon Sir Jim Ratcliffe Obtained As Much As £70m in British State Aid Over the Past Four Years
Before this week's £50m state rescue package for its Scottish plant, chemical companies under the ownership of billionaire Jim Ratcliffe were already awarded up to £70m in British government support over the past four years.
Latest Disclosures and Financial Support
According to official data released this week, public funding to Ratcliffe's chemical empire in the last year alone was between £16m and £38m. Since August 2022, the company has obtained between £28m and £70m.
The government stepped in this week to provide Ineos with £50m to prop up its Scottish ethylene plant, concerned that without it the UK would cease to have its last remaining facility producing ethylene—a critical feedstock 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 support arrives following Ineos closed the adjacent oil refinery in late 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.
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 been under significant financial pressure, in part due to soaring energy costs in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Reflecting growing unease over its financial health, the credit rating agency downgraded Ineos's debt rating in September. Ratcliffe has also had to commit substantial resources into his Ineos Grenadier automotive project and the turnaround of Manchester United, 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 relief in exchange for “voluntary agreements to reduce energy use and carbon dioxide emissions.” The value of these tax breaks for Ineos's plants in Grangemouth and Hull are reported as ranges rather than exact amounts.
An Ineos spokesperson said the aid did not represent “special treatment” for the company, but was “granted based on strict criteria, and open 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 industrialist launched a broadside against government policy, including carbon taxes levied on industrial users.
“The solution is not decarbonisation by deindustrialisation,” Ratcliffe wrote. “Lacking a robust manufacturing base, the economy will continue to decline. Soaring power prices and punitive carbon charges are pushing industry out of the UK at an alarming rate.”
In further comments, Ratcliffe described carbon taxes as “an extremely foolish levy in the world,” contending they put UK plants at a competitive disadvantage against foreign rivals. It is noted that most chemicals and plastics are excluded from the UK's planned carbon import tax.
Future 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 productive chemical plants in Europe and to safeguard skilled jobs. The UK chemicals sector has had a very difficult 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.”
A senior Ineos executive, head of sustainability for the company's chemicals unit, indicated the Grangemouth money would be used to improve energy efficiency, cut carbon emissions, and boost overall performance.
He noted the site, which uses an ethylene cracker running on 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, worth hundreds of millions of euros—notably while Ratcliffe was a leading supporter of the campaign for the UK to exit the European Union.