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Before this week's £50m government bailout for its Scottish plant, chemical companies under the ownership of billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe were already awarded up to £70m in British government support during the previous four-year period.

Recent Revelations and Financial Support

Based on government disclosures released recently, public funding to Ratcliffe's chemical empire in the last year alone ranged from £16m and £38m. From August 2022 onwards, the conglomerate has obtained a total of £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 cease to have its last remaining facility manufacturing ethylene—a critical feedstock for plastics. Officials additionally supported a £75m credit guarantee, while Ineos committed to invest £30m of its own funds.

Refinery Shutdown and Wider Challenges

This support arrives following Ineos closed the adjacent 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, reportedly requested government assistance in October. The request comes at a time when the wide-ranging Ineos group, controlled by 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 financial health, Fitch Ratings downgraded Ineos's debt rating in September. Ratcliffe has also had to commit substantial resources into his off-road vehicle venture and efforts to revitalise the football club, in which he holds a minority stake.

Nature of Aid and Official Responses

The majority of the earlier government support came in the form of tax breaks in return for “commitments to curb consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.” The value of these relief schemes 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 “granted based on strict criteria, and open to any UK business that qualifies.”

Although Ratcliffe publicly welcomed the £50m support in an official statement, Ineos also released sharper remarks. In these, the industrialist launched a broadside against government policy, including carbon taxes levied on industrial users.

“The answer is NOT decarbonisation by deindustrialisation,” Ratcliffe wrote. “Lacking a robust manufacturing base, the economy will falter. Soaring power prices and burdensome carbon levies are driving industry out of the UK at an unsustainable pace.”

In further comments, Ratcliffe labelled carbon taxes as “an extremely foolish levy in the world,” contending they place UK plants at a disadvantage against international competitors. It is noted that most chemicals and plastics are excluded 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 keep it 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 society depends on this industry every day. If we don't produce these critical products in the UK, they are imported instead, often from more polluting operations abroad.”

A senior Ineos executive, head of sustainability for the company's Olefins & Polymers division, indicated the new funding would be used to improve energy efficiency, reduce 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 “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—interestingly while Ratcliffe was a leading supporter of the campaign for the UK to exit the European Union.