Industrial Companies Controlled by Billionaire Jim Ratcliffe Obtained As Much As £70m in British State Aid Over the Past Four Years
Before this week's £50m government bailout for its Grangemouth facility, chemical companies under the ownership of billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe had already been granted as much as £70m in UK state aid over the past four years.
Recent Disclosures and Bailout Package
Based on 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.
The government stepped in on Tuesday to provide Ineos with £50m to prop up its Grangemouth operations, concerned that without it the UK would cease to have its last remaining facility manufacturing ethylene—a vital feedstock 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 arrives following Ineos shut down the adjacent oil refinery in late 2024, costing 400 jobs—a move described as a significant setback to the local community and a challenge for the government.
Ratcliffe, who is worth $14.5bn, is understood to have requested government assistance in October. This appeal comes at a time when the wide-ranging Ineos group, under the control of the 73-year-old, has been under significant financial pressure, in part due to sharply increased energy costs in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Reflecting increasing concern 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 the turnaround of Manchester United, in which he holds a minority stake.
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 CO2 output.” The value of these relief schemes for Ineos's sites in Grangemouth and Hull are reported as ranges rather than exact amounts.
An Ineos spokesperson said the aid did not represent “favourable terms” for the company, but was “granted based on strict criteria, and available to any UK business that meets the requirements.”
Although Ratcliffe publicly welcomed the £50m support in an official statement, Ineos separately issued more critical comments. In these, the industrialist strongly criticised government policy, specifically carbon taxes paid by industrial users.
“The solution is not decarbonisation by deindustrialisation,” he stated. “Lacking a robust manufacturing base, the economy will falter. High energy costs and burdensome carbon levies 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,” arguing they put UK plants at a disadvantage against foreign rivals. It is noted that most chemicals and plastics are excluded from the UK's planned carbon border adjustment mechanism.
Investment and Environmental Pledges
The Ineos spokesperson 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. British industry has had a brutal year, yet society depends on this industry every day. Should we fail to manufacture these critical products 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 improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and boost overall performance.
He explained the site, which uses an ethylene cracker running on 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 in the past obtained significant tax breaks from the EU, worth hundreds of millions of euros—notably while Ratcliffe was a prominent backer of the campaign for the UK to leave the EU.
