Grangemouth owner Jim Ratcliffe is continuing to benefit from taxpayer funded business grants despite plans to close the refinery, the Sunday Mail can reveal.
Emails between the billionaire’s petrochemicals giant Ineos and Scottish Enterprise show that discussions on “public support” have been ongoing since April.
The talks came after the government agency handed the firm’s Olefins wing — which turns oil into chemicals for plastics and detergents – £428,000 in March.
But opposition MSPs have slammed ministers for giving money to the firm owned by tax exile Ratcliffe – who spent £1.3 billion buying out Manchester United last year – when 400 workers at Grangemouth are set to lose their jobs.
Labour MSP Richard Leonard said: “The approach taken by successive Scottish and UK governments has failed the workers of Grangemouth and the communities they live in.
“It is totally wrong to simply keep shovelling public money into the hands of the tax exile billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s company while the workforce suffer cuts and closures.”
The emails, released after a Freedom of Information request, show that Scottish Enterprise officials met with Ineos Olefins Polymers UK bosses to discuss a possible public grant on at least eight occasions between April and August this year.
The closure of the refinery at Grangemouth, which was confirmed last month, does not affect the chemicals side of business.
Scottish Enterprise already handed Ineos £428,000 in March, which was the second instalment of a £500,000 grant agreed in October 2022.
The organisation would not say how much more in funding was being discussed for Grangemouth.
But union reps have previously voiced fears that up to half of the Olefins workforce could lose their jobs once Ineos opens a new ‘super-plant’ in Antwerp, Belgium.
Government officials assisted the company in preparing a business case for taxpayer funding, and asked Ineos to provide data to “help to de-risk decisions on any public sector support”.
They encouraged executives to make projections in line with a new Scottish Enterprise strategy which measures productivity per employee.
This has provoked fears that the company could reduce its workforce in order to appear more productive.
Leonard added: “Any public funds must be conditional on a genuine, worker-led just transition as part of a proper industrial strategy for a green and sustainable economy and not, as it appears here, to be tied to job cuts.”
A Scottish Enterprise spokeswoman said: “We absolutely do not incentivise companies to reduce their headcount. The productivity mission in our strategy launched earlier this year is focussed on supporting companies to make their workforce more productive.”
Rosie Hampton, just transition campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “It is completely indefensible that the Scottish Government is considering giving more free handouts to Ineos.
“A company headed up by a tax exile billionaire such as Jim Ratcliffe who’s happy to pour tens of millions of pounds into Manchester United, while leaving hundreds of workers on the scrap heap, should not be receiving public money.
“It is frankly embarrassing that the Scottish Government expect to be taken seriously on the energy transition, when they’re rewarding some of the most destructive, unjust companies in the industry.
“Both the Scottish and UK governments have broken every promise made to the workers and community in Grangemouth.
“Any further public investment must be ringfenced with clear conditionality on providing jobs and funding for the local community. We need to see a clear, concrete transition plan that’s properly financed and provides good, secure jobs for Grangemouth workers.”
The refinery is set to be converted into an oil import and export terminal, with around 400 of the current workforce of 475 losing their jobs.
The adjacent petrochemicals plant employs around 1,000 workers, with another 500 working on the Forties pipeline system from the North Sea. This supplies around a third of Britain’s natural gas.
Green MSP Gillian McKay added: “Jim Ratcliffe has treated local workers and the community with contempt. He has left a lot of people anxious and worried about the future.
“Grangemouth needs a fair and just transition but what is being imposed bears no resemblance to that. The reality is that we have known for a long time that change is needed. Lessons have not been learned from other closures like Longannet.
“If the Scottish Government is offering support to the site owners then it is workers who need to see the benefit of it. That must mean jobs and support for local people, not more money for INEOS bosses as they sell out the people of Grangemouth.”
The Scottish Enterprise spokeswoman added: “Grangemouth is one of the most important industrial sites in Scotland and we are working with partners to secure the future of this critical infrastructure.
“With our partners on the Grangemouth Future Industry Programme Board, we are working to develop an industrial cluster strategy for Grangemouth which will provide a collective vision and direction for companies and wider GFIB stakeholders, as well as securing the future sustainability of Scotland’s largest manufacturing cluster and a hugely important centre of employment, energy and industry.”
An INEOS spokesperson said: “With two decades of significant investment into the site by INEOS, including half a billion pounds in the last three years, Grangemouth remains ideally placed to become a hub of low carbon manufacturing.
“However, there are real regulatory, fiscal and economic barriers to unlocking the massive capital investment required to realise this. That is why we welcome the UK and Scottish Governments’ commitment to undertake a joint study – Project Willow – to rapidly explore the full range of low carbon options that could be developed at Grangemouth.
“We also welcome the support from Scottish Enterprise, which together with our own investments, is unlocking the potential for Grangemouth – underpinning Scottish jobs, Scottish Manufacturing and delivering on our commitment to be net zero by 2045.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government is committed to supporting a long term and sustainable future for the whole Grangemouth industrial cluster. We recognise the need to support business transition to the use of new technologies to support their decarbonisation ambitions as well as ensuring that Grangemouth continues to play its central role in Scotland’s economy.
“The Scottish Government will work with business to support investment in areas of development that will secure high value jobs well into the future. We also welcome the UK Government’s commitment to explore the use of the National Wealth Fund to achieve the same ambition.”
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