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Before this week's £50m state rescue package for its Grangemouth facility, industrial firms 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 Disclosures and Bailout Package

According to official data released this week, public funding to the Ineos group in the most recent year was between £16m and £38m. Since August 2022, 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, fearing that otherwise the UK would lose its sole facility producing ethylene—a vital feedstock for plastics. Officials additionally supported a £75m credit guarantee, while Ineos committed to invest £30m of its own funds.

Plant Closure and Broader Context

This intervention comes after Ineos closed the neighbouring oil refinery in September 2024, costing 400 jobs—a move described as a huge blow to the area and a challenge for the government.

Ratcliffe, who is worth $14.5bn, is understood to have asked for government help in October. The request coincides with the wide-ranging Ineos group, under the control of the 73-year-old, has faced significant financial pressure, partly due to sharply increased energy costs following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In a sign of growing unease over its ability to manage debt, the credit rating agency downgraded Ineos's debt rating in September. Ratcliffe has also had to commit significant funds into his off-road vehicle venture and efforts to revitalise the football club, in which he holds a partial ownership.

Form of Support and Official Responses

The majority of the previous state aid was delivered in the form of tax relief in return 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 represent “special treatment” for the company, but was “awarded against strict criteria, and available to any UK business that qualifies.”

Although Ratcliffe publicly welcomed the £50m support in an announcement, Ineos separately issued more critical comments. In these, the billionaire strongly criticised government policy, including carbon taxes levied on industrial users.

“The solution is not decarbonisation by deindustrialisation,” Ratcliffe wrote. “Lacking a robust manufacturing base, the economy will falter. Soaring power prices and punitive carbon charges are pushing industry out of the UK at an unsustainable pace.”

In further comments, Ratcliffe labelled carbon taxes as “the most idiotic tax in the world,” contending they place UK plants at a competitive disadvantage against foreign rivals. Currently, most chemicals and plastics are excluded from the UK's planned carbon border adjustment mechanism.

Investment and Environmental Pledges

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 very difficult year, yet society depends on this industry every day. If we don't produce 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 chemicals unit, said the Grangemouth money would be used to enhance energy efficiency, cut carbon emissions, and upgrade overall performance.

He explained the site, which uses an processing unit utilising North Sea gas and imported liquefied petroleum gas, had been under “intense strain” from rocketing energy costs and the UK's carbon taxes.

It has also been reported that Ineos has in the past obtained substantial 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.