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Prior to the recent £50m government bailout for its Grangemouth facility, industrial firms controlled by tycoon Jim Ratcliffe were already awarded as much as £70m in British government support over the past four years.

Latest Disclosures and Bailout Package

Based on government disclosures released this week, state aid to the Ineos group in the most recent year was between £16m and £38m. From August 2022 onwards, the company has received between £28m and £70m.

The government stepped in this week to provide Ineos with £50m to prop up its Grangemouth operations, concerned that otherwise the UK would cease to have 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 private capital.

Plant Closure and Broader Context

This support arrives after 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.

Ratcliffe, who is worth $14.5bn, is understood to have requested government help in October. The request comes at a time when the wide-ranging Ineos group, controlled by the 73-year-old, has been under considerable economic strain, in part due to soaring energy costs in the wake of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In a sign of increasing concern 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 off-road vehicle venture and the turnaround of Manchester United, in which he holds a partial ownership.

Form of Support and Company Statements

Most the earlier government support came in the form of tax breaks in return for “voluntary agreements to curb consumption and CO2 output.” Figures for these relief schemes for Ineos's plants in Grangemouth and Hull are reported as ranges rather than exact amounts.

An Ineos representative stated the aid did not constitute “favourable terms” for the company, but was “granted based on strict criteria, and open to any UK business that qualifies.”

While Ratcliffe publicly welcomed the £50m support in an official statement, Ineos also released sharper remarks. In these, the industrialist strongly criticised government policy, including carbon taxes levied on industrial users.

“The solution is not decarbonisation by deindustrialisation,” he stated. “Lacking a robust manufacturing base, the economy will continue to decline. Soaring power prices and burdensome carbon levies are pushing industry out of the UK at an unsustainable pace.”

In further comments, Ratcliffe labelled carbon taxes as “the most idiotic tax in the world,” arguing 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 border adjustment mechanism.

Future Environmental Pledges

The Ineos representative added: “Ineos has invested over £400m at Grangemouth in the last five years to keep it as one of the most efficient chemical plants in Europe and to safeguard skilled jobs. The UK chemicals sector has had a brutal year, yet everyone relies on this industry every day. If we don't produce 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 chemicals unit, said the new funding 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 “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, valued at hundreds of millions of euros—interestingly while Ratcliffe was a leading supporter of the campaign for the UK to exit the European Union.