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Before the recent £50m state rescue package for its Grangemouth facility, chemical companies under the ownership of tycoon Sir Jim Ratcliffe were already awarded up to £70m in UK state aid during the previous four-year period.

Latest Disclosures and Bailout Package

Based on government disclosures published this week, state aid to the Ineos group in the most recent year was between £16m and £38m. Since August 2022, the company has obtained a total of £28m and £70m.

The government stepped in on Tuesday to grant Ineos with £50m to support its Scottish ethylene plant, concerned that without it the UK would cease to have its sole facility manufacturing ethylene—a vital feedstock for plastics. The government also backed a £75m loan guarantee, while Ineos committed to invest £30m of its own funds.

Plant Closure and Wider Challenges

This intervention arrives after Ineos shut down the adjacent oil refinery in late 2024, resulting in the loss of 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. The request coincides with the wide-ranging Ineos group, under the control of the 73-year-old, has been under significant financial pressure, in part due to sharply increased energy costs in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In a sign of increasing concern over its financial health, Fitch Ratings downgraded Ineos's debt rating in September. Ratcliffe has also had to commit significant funds into his Ineos Grenadier automotive project and efforts to revitalise the football club, in which he holds a partial ownership.

Form of Support and Company Statements

The majority of the previous state aid came in the form of tax breaks in exchange for “commitments to curb consumption and CO2 output.” The value of these relief schemes for Ineos's sites in Grangemouth and Hull were given as estimates rather than exact amounts.

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

While Ratcliffe publicly welcomed the £50m support in an announcement, Ineos also released more critical comments. In these, the billionaire launched a broadside against government policy, specifically 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 burdensome carbon levies are pushing industry out of the UK at an alarming rate.”

In further comments, Ratcliffe described carbon taxes as “the most idiotic tax in the world,” arguing they put UK plants at a disadvantage against foreign rivals. It is noted that most chemicals and plastics are excluded from the UK's initial carbon import tax.

Investment and 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 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 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, said the Grangemouth money would be used to improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and upgrade overall performance.

He explained 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.

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 leading supporter of the campaign for the UK to leave the EU.