Prior to the recent £50m state rescue package for its Scottish plant, chemical companies controlled by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe had already been granted up to £70m in UK state aid over the past four years.
Latest Disclosures and Financial Support
According to government disclosures released recently, state aid to the Ineos group in the last year alone was between £16m and £38m. From August 2022 onwards, the conglomerate has received between £28m and £70m.
Authorities intervened this week to provide Ineos with £50m to prop up its Scottish ethylene plant, fearing that without it the UK would cease to have its sole facility manufacturing ethylene—a vital raw material for plastics. Officials additionally supported a £75m credit guarantee, while Ineos committed to invest £30m of its private capital.
Refinery Shutdown and Broader Context
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 local community and a challenge for the government.
Ratcliffe, who is worth $14.5bn, is understood to have asked for government help 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, partly due to sharply increased energy costs following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Reflecting growing unease over its ability to manage debt, Fitch Ratings lowered Ineos's credit rating in September. Ratcliffe has also been required to invest substantial resources into his Ineos Grenadier automotive project and the turnaround of Manchester United, in which he holds a minority stake.
Nature of Aid and Official Responses
Most the previous state aid came in the form of tax breaks in return for “commitments to reduce energy use and CO2 output.” The value of these tax breaks for Ineos's plants in Grangemouth and Hull are reported as ranges rather than precise figures.
An Ineos representative said the aid did not constitute “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 separately issued more critical comments. In these, the industrialist launched a broadside against government policy, including carbon taxes paid by industrial users.
“The solution is not decarbonisation by deindustrialisation,” he stated. “Without a strong manufacturing base, the economy will falter. Soaring power prices and burdensome carbon levies are driving industry out of the UK at an unsustainable pace.”
In further comments, Ratcliffe labelled carbon taxes as “the most idiotic tax in the world,” contending they put UK plants at a competitive disadvantage against foreign rivals. Currently, most chemicals and plastics are excluded from the UK's initial carbon import tax.
Investment and Environmental Pledges
The Ineos spokesperson 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 very difficult year, yet society depends on this industry every day. If we don't produce these essential materials in the UK, they are brought in from overseas, often from higher-carbon production abroad.”
Colin Pritchard, head of sustainability for the company's chemicals unit, said the Grangemouth money would be used to enhance energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and upgrade plant performance.
He explained the site, which uses an ethylene cracker utilising North Sea gas and imported 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, worth hundreds of millions of euros—interestingly while Ratcliffe was a leading supporter of the campaign for the UK to leave the EU.
