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Before the recent £50m state rescue package for its Grangemouth facility, chemical companies under the ownership of billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe had already been granted up to £70m in UK state aid over the past four years.

Recent Revelations and Bailout Package

Based on official data released recently, public funding to Ratcliffe's chemical empire in the last year alone was between £16m and £38m. From August 2022 onwards, the company has obtained between £28m and £70m.

Authorities intervened this week to grant Ineos with £50m to support its Grangemouth operations, concerned that otherwise the UK would cease to have its sole facility manufacturing ethylene—a critical raw material for plastics. Officials additionally supported a £75m loan guarantee, while Ineos committed to invest £30m of its private capital.

Refinery Shutdown and Broader Context

This support arrives following Ineos closed the neighbouring oil refinery in late 2024, costing 400 jobs—a move described as a significant setback to the area and a political problem for the government.

Ratcliffe, who is worth $14.5bn, is understood to have asked for government assistance in October. The request comes at a time when the wide-ranging Ineos group, under the control of the 73-year-old, has been under significant financial pressure, partly due to soaring energy costs following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Reflecting increasing concern over its financial health, the credit rating agency lowered Ineos's credit rating in September. Ratcliffe has also had to commit substantial resources into his Ineos Grenadier automotive project and the turnaround of the football club, in which he holds a partial ownership.

Nature of Aid and Official Responses

The majority of the previous state aid came in the form of tax relief in exchange for “commitments to curb consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.” Figures for these tax breaks for Ineos's sites in Grangemouth and Hull are reported as ranges rather than exact amounts.

An Ineos spokesperson stated the aid did not constitute “special treatment” 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 billionaire launched a broadside against government policy, including carbon taxes paid by industrial users.

“The solution is not decarbonisation by deindustrialisation,” Ratcliffe wrote. “Lacking a robust manufacturing base, the economy will falter. High energy costs and punitive carbon charges are pushing 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 put UK plants at a competitive disadvantage against international competitors. Currently, most chemicals and plastics are not covered from the UK's planned carbon border adjustment mechanism.

Future Environmental Pledges

The Ineos spokesperson further stated: “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. British industry has had a very difficult 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.”

Colin Pritchard, head of sustainability for the company's Olefins & Polymers division, said the new funding would be used to improve energy efficiency, cut carbon emissions, and boost 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.

Records show 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 exit the European Union.