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Prior to this week's £50m state rescue package for its Grangemouth facility, industrial firms controlled by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe had already been granted as much as £70m in UK state aid over the past four years.

Recent Revelations and Financial Support

According to government disclosures released this week, public funding to the Ineos group in the last year alone was between £16m and £38m. From August 2022 onwards, the conglomerate has received between £28m and £70m.

The government stepped in this week to grant Ineos with £50m to prop up its Grangemouth operations, fearing that without it the UK would cease to have its sole facility manufacturing ethylene—a critical raw material for plastics. The government also backed a £75m credit guarantee, while Ineos pledged to invest £30m of its private capital.

Refinery Shutdown and Wider Challenges

This intervention comes after Ineos closed the neighbouring oil refinery in September 2024, costing 400 jobs—a move described as a significant setback to the local community and a political problem for the government.

The billionaire, with an estimated net worth of $14.5bn, reportedly requested government help in October. The request coincides with 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 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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

Nature of Aid and Official Responses

Most the earlier government support was delivered in the form of tax relief in exchange for “voluntary agreements to reduce energy use and carbon dioxide emissions.” The value of these relief schemes for Ineos's plants in Grangemouth and Hull were given as estimates rather than precise figures.

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

Although Ratcliffe thanked the government for the £50m support in an announcement, Ineos separately issued sharper remarks. In these, the industrialist strongly criticised government policy, including carbon taxes levied on industrial users.

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

In further comments, Ratcliffe described carbon taxes as “the most idiotic tax in the world,” contending they place UK plants at a 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 representative further stated: “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 protect skilled jobs. British industry has had a very difficult year, yet everyone relies on this industry every day. If we don't produce these essential materials in the UK, they are brought in from overseas, often from more polluting operations abroad.”

A senior Ineos executive, head of sustainability for the company's chemicals unit, said the Grangemouth money 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 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 significant tax breaks from the EU, valued at hundreds of millions of euros—notably while Ratcliffe was a prominent backer of the campaign for the UK to leave the EU.