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Before this week's £50m government bailout for its Grangemouth facility, industrial firms under the ownership of tycoon Sir Jim Ratcliffe had already been granted as much as £70m in British government support during the previous four-year period.

Recent Disclosures and Bailout Package

Based on government disclosures published recently, public funding to Ratcliffe's chemical empire in the most recent year was between £16m and £38m. From August 2022 onwards, the company has obtained between £28m and £70m.

The government stepped in this week to provide Ineos with £50m to support its Scottish ethylene plant, concerned that otherwise the UK would lose its sole facility producing ethylene—a vital raw material for plastics. The government also backed a £75m credit guarantee, while Ineos committed to invest £30m of its private capital.

Plant Closure and Wider Challenges

This intervention comes after Ineos closed 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. 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 sharply increased energy costs in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Reflecting growing unease over its ability to manage debt, Fitch Ratings downgraded Ineos's credit rating in September. Ratcliffe has also been required to invest significant funds into his off-road vehicle venture and the turnaround of the football club, in which he holds a partial ownership.

Nature of Aid and Official Responses

Most the previous state aid was delivered in the form of tax breaks in exchange for “commitments to curb consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.” The value of these tax breaks for Ineos's sites in Grangemouth and Hull were given as estimates rather than exact amounts.

An Ineos representative said the aid did not represent “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 separately issued more critical comments. In these, the billionaire strongly criticised government policy, including carbon taxes levied on industrial users.

“The answer is NOT decarbonisation by deindustrialisation,” Ratcliffe wrote. “Without a strong manufacturing base, the economy will continue to decline. High energy costs and punitive carbon charges are pushing industry out of the UK at an unsustainable pace.”

Speaking elsewhere, Ratcliffe described carbon taxes as “an extremely foolish levy in the world,” contending they put UK plants at a competitive disadvantage against international competitors. Currently, most chemicals and plastics are excluded from the UK's planned carbon border adjustment mechanism.

Future Sustainability Claims

The Ineos representative added: “Ineos has invested over £400m at Grangemouth in the last five years to maintain its status 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 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 chemicals unit, said the new funding would be used to improve energy efficiency, cut carbon emissions, and upgrade overall performance.

He explained the site, which uses an ethylene cracker utilising North Sea gas and US-sourced liquefied petroleum gas, had been under “extreme pressure” from surging energy costs and the UK's carbon taxes.

Records show that Ineos has in the past obtained substantial 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.