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Prior to the recent £50m state rescue package for its Grangemouth facility, industrial firms controlled by billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe were already awarded up to £70m in UK state aid during the previous four-year period.

Recent Revelations and Bailout Package

According to government disclosures published this week, public funding to the Ineos group in the most recent year was between £16m and £38m. Since August 2022, the company has received between £28m and £70m.

Authorities intervened this week to grant Ineos with £50m to prop up its Scottish ethylene plant, fearing that without it the UK would lose its sole facility producing ethylene—a critical feedstock for plastics. The government also backed a £75m credit guarantee, while Ineos committed to invest £30m of its own funds.

Plant Closure and Wider Challenges

This intervention comes following Ineos closed the adjacent oil refinery in late 2024, costing 400 jobs—a move described as a huge blow to the local community and a political problem for the government.

Ratcliffe, who is worth $14.5bn, reportedly asked for government help in October. This appeal coincides with the expansive Ineos group, under the control of the 73-year-old, has been under significant financial pressure, partly due to sharply increased energy costs in the wake of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In a sign of increasing concern over its ability to manage debt, the credit rating agency downgraded 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 minority stake.

Nature of Aid and Official Responses

The majority of the earlier government support was delivered in the form of tax breaks in exchange for “commitments to curb consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.” Figures for these tax breaks for Ineos's plants in Grangemouth and Hull were given as estimates rather than exact amounts.

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

Although Ratcliffe thanked the government for the £50m support in an announcement, 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 continue to decline. Soaring power prices and punitive carbon charges are pushing 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 competitive disadvantage against foreign rivals. Currently, most chemicals and plastics are not covered from the UK's planned carbon import tax.

Future Sustainability Claims

The Ineos representative added: “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 protect skilled jobs. The UK chemicals sector has had a brutal year, yet society depends 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.”

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

He noted the site, which uses an ethylene cracker running on North Sea gas and US-sourced liquefied petroleum gas, had been under “intense strain” 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, valued at hundreds of millions of euros—interestingly while Ratcliffe was a leading supporter of the campaign for the UK to leave the EU.