Industrial Firms Owned by Billionaire Jim Ratcliffe Received Up to £70m in British State Aid In the Past Four Years
Prior to the recent £50m government bailout for its Grangemouth facility, industrial firms controlled by tycoon Jim Ratcliffe had already been granted up to £70m in UK state aid during the previous four-year period.
Recent Revelations and Financial Support
Based on government disclosures published this week, public funding to the Ineos group in the most recent year was between £16m and £38m. From August 2022 onwards, the conglomerate has received between £28m and £70m.
Authorities intervened this week to grant Ineos with £50m to prop up its Grangemouth operations, concerned that without it the UK would cease to have its last remaining facility producing ethylene—a vital feedstock for plastics. The government also backed a £75m loan guarantee, while Ineos pledged to invest £30m of its private capital.
Plant Closure and Broader Context
This intervention arrives following Ineos shut down the neighbouring oil refinery in September 2024, resulting in the loss of 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, is understood to have requested government assistance in October. The request comes at a time when the wide-ranging Ineos group, controlled by the 73-year-old, has faced considerable economic strain, partly due to sharply increased energy costs following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Reflecting increasing concern over its ability to manage debt, Fitch Ratings downgraded Ineos's debt rating in September. Ratcliffe has also had to commit significant funds into his off-road vehicle venture and the turnaround of the football club, in which he holds a minority stake.
Form of Support and Official Responses
The majority of the earlier government support came in the form of tax breaks in exchange for “voluntary agreements to curb consumption and CO2 output.” Figures for these relief schemes for Ineos's plants in Grangemouth and Hull were given as estimates rather than exact amounts.
An Ineos spokesperson said the aid did not represent “favourable terms” for the company, but was “awarded against strict criteria, and available to any UK business that qualifies.”
Although Ratcliffe thanked the government for the £50m support in an official statement, Ineos separately issued sharper remarks. In these, the industrialist launched a broadside against government policy, specifically carbon taxes paid by industrial users.
“The answer is NOT decarbonisation by deindustrialisation,” Ratcliffe wrote. “Lacking a robust manufacturing base, the economy will falter. High energy costs and punitive carbon charges are driving industry out of the UK at an alarming rate.”
Speaking elsewhere, Ratcliffe described carbon taxes as “the most idiotic tax in the world,” arguing they place UK plants at a disadvantage against foreign rivals. It is noted that most chemicals and plastics are not covered 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 maintain its status as one of the most productive chemical plants in Europe and to safeguard skilled jobs. The UK chemicals sector has had a brutal year, yet society depends on this industry every day. Should we fail to manufacture these essential materials 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 new funding would be used to enhance energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and upgrade plant performance.
He explained the site, which uses an ethylene cracker running on North Sea gas and imported liquefied petroleum gas, had been under “extreme pressure” from surging energy costs and the UK's carbon taxes.
Records show that Ineos has previously received substantial tax breaks from the EU, valued at hundreds of millions of euros—notably while Ratcliffe was a leading supporter of the campaign for the UK to leave the EU.
