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Prior to the recent £50m state rescue package for its Grangemouth facility, chemical companies under the ownership of billionaire Jim Ratcliffe had already been granted as much as £70m in British government support over the past four years.

Recent Disclosures and Bailout Package

Based on government disclosures released this week, state aid to Ratcliffe's chemical empire in the last year alone was between £16m and £38m. From August 2022 onwards, the conglomerate has received a total of £28m and £70m.

Authorities intervened on Tuesday to grant Ineos with £50m to prop up its Scottish ethylene plant, fearing that otherwise the UK would lose its last remaining facility producing ethylene—a critical raw material for plastics. The government also backed a £75m loan guarantee, while Ineos pledged to invest £30m of its private capital.

Plant Closure and Wider Challenges

This intervention arrives following Ineos closed the neighbouring oil refinery in September 2024, costing 400 jobs—a move described as a significant setback to the area and a challenge for the government.

Ratcliffe, who is worth $14.5bn, is understood to have requested government assistance in October. The request comes at a time when the expansive Ineos group, controlled by the 73-year-old, has faced considerable economic strain, in part due to sharply increased energy costs following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In a sign of increasing concern over its financial health, Fitch Ratings lowered Ineos's credit rating in September. Ratcliffe has also been required to invest significant funds into his Ineos Grenadier automotive project and efforts to revitalise the football club, 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 breaks in exchange for “commitments to reduce energy use and carbon dioxide emissions.” The value of these tax breaks for Ineos's plants in Grangemouth and Hull are reported as ranges rather than exact amounts.

An Ineos representative stated the aid did not represent “favourable terms” for the company, but was “awarded against strict criteria, and available to any UK business that qualifies.”

While Ratcliffe publicly welcomed the £50m support in an official statement, Ineos also released more critical comments. In these, the industrialist launched a broadside against government policy, specifically carbon taxes levied on industrial users.

“The solution is not decarbonisation by deindustrialisation,” he stated. “Lacking a robust 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 labelled carbon taxes as “an extremely foolish levy in the world,” contending they place UK plants at a competitive disadvantage against foreign rivals. It is noted that most chemicals and plastics are excluded from the UK's initial carbon border adjustment mechanism.

Future Environmental Pledges

The Ineos representative added: “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 safeguard skilled jobs. British industry 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 more polluting operations abroad.”

Colin Pritchard, head of sustainability for the company's chemicals unit, indicated the new funding would be used to enhance energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and boost overall performance.

He explained the site, which uses an ethylene cracker utilising North Sea gas and US-sourced 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 previously received substantial tax breaks from the EU, valued at hundreds of millions of euros—interestingly while Ratcliffe was a prominent backer of the campaign for the UK to leave the EU.