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Prior to the recent £50m government bailout for its Scottish plant, chemical companies under the ownership of billionaire Jim Ratcliffe were already awarded up to £70m in British government support over the past four years.

Recent Disclosures and Bailout Package

According to government disclosures released recently, public funding to the Ineos group in the most recent year was between £16m and £38m. From August 2022 onwards, the company has obtained a total of £28m and £70m.

The government stepped in on Tuesday to grant Ineos with £50m to prop up its Scottish ethylene plant, concerned that otherwise the UK would lose its sole facility manufacturing ethylene—a critical raw material for plastics. The government also backed a £75m loan guarantee, while Ineos committed to invest £30m of its private capital.

Refinery Shutdown and Wider Challenges

This intervention arrives after Ineos shut down the adjacent oil refinery in September 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 asked for government assistance in October. This appeal comes at a time when the expansive Ineos group, under the control of the 73-year-old, has faced significant financial pressure, in part due to soaring energy costs following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In a sign of growing unease over its financial health, Fitch Ratings downgraded Ineos's credit rating in September. Ratcliffe has also had to commit substantial resources into his Ineos Grenadier automotive project and efforts to revitalise Manchester United, in which he holds a partial ownership.

Form of Support and Official Responses

Most the previous state aid came in the form of tax breaks in return for “commitments to curb consumption and CO2 output.” The value of these tax breaks for Ineos's sites in Grangemouth and Hull were given as estimates rather than precise figures.

An Ineos spokesperson said the aid did not represent “special treatment” for the company, but was “awarded against strict criteria, and open to any UK business that qualifies.”

While Ratcliffe publicly welcomed the £50m support in an official statement, Ineos separately issued sharper remarks. In these, the billionaire strongly criticised 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. 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,” contending 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 initial carbon import tax.

Future Environmental Pledges

The Ineos representative further stated: “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 very difficult 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, cut carbon emissions, and upgrade plant performance.

He noted 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.

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 prominent backer of the campaign for the UK to exit the European Union.