Chemical Companies Owned by Billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe Received As Much As £70m in UK State Aid Over the Last Four-Year Period
Before this week's £50m state rescue package for its Scottish plant, chemical companies controlled by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe had already been granted up to £70m in British government support during the previous four-year period.
Latest Disclosures and Bailout Package
Based on official data published recently, state aid 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.
Authorities intervened on Tuesday to grant Ineos with £50m to prop up its Scottish ethylene plant, fearing that without it the UK would lose its last remaining facility producing ethylene—a vital raw material for plastics. Officials additionally supported a £75m loan guarantee, while Ineos committed to invest £30m of its own funds.
Plant Closure and Wider Challenges
This intervention comes after Ineos shut down the neighbouring oil refinery in September 2024, costing 400 jobs—a move described as a huge blow to the area and a political problem for the government.
Ratcliffe, who is worth $14.5bn, reportedly asked for government assistance in October. The request comes at a time when the expansive Ineos group, under the control of 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, Fitch Ratings downgraded Ineos's debt rating in September. Ratcliffe has also been required to invest significant funds into his Ineos Grenadier automotive project and efforts to revitalise the football club, in which he holds a minority stake.
Nature of Aid and Official Responses
The majority of the previous state aid came in the form of tax relief in return for “commitments to curb consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.” The value of these relief schemes 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 “granted based on strict criteria, and open to any UK business that meets the requirements.”
Although Ratcliffe publicly welcomed the £50m support in an announcement, Ineos separately issued sharper remarks. In these, the billionaire 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 continue to decline. Soaring power prices and punitive carbon charges are driving industry out of the UK at an unsustainable pace.”
Speaking elsewhere, Ratcliffe labelled carbon taxes as “the most idiotic tax in the world,” contending they place UK plants at a disadvantage against foreign rivals. It is noted that most chemicals and plastics are excluded from the UK's initial carbon border adjustment mechanism.
Future Sustainability Claims
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 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 critical products 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 Grangemouth money would be used to improve energy efficiency, cut carbon emissions, and upgrade plant performance.
He explained 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.
It has also been reported that Ineos has in the past obtained significant 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 exit the European Union.
