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Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he will no longer be investing money into Britain through his energy empire because of Labour’s tax raid on North Sea oil and gas production.
His company Ineos announced that spending would be pulled from the UK and diverted to the US because of high costs, including the windfall tax and a levy on oil companies making massive profits.
Brian Gilvary, chief executive of the firm’s energy division, announced that the chemical manufacturing giant “cannot invest with any certainty because we can’t be sure what future tax rates will be”.
He also slammed the UK for being one of “the most unstable fiscal regimes in the world from a perspective of natural resources and energy”.
“We have stopped investing in Britain. Our future investment will not be [in] the UK. There’s no question of that,” he said.
It comes after Ineos shut down its Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland this year after a century of operation, leading to the loss of 400 jobs.
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Sir Jim’s company also warned that their Olefins and Polymers (O&P) plant in the same site is at risk from being axed because of high taxes and energy prices.
It also operates the Breagh gas field and Clipper South rig in the North Sea, off the coast of Teesside, which produce gas that supports British homes, businesses and industry.
The British billionaire warned that these plants were “impossible” to run at a profit because of high energy prices, caused by the government’s green levies.
Mr Gilvary said: “We have stopped investing in Britain. Our future investment will not be [in] the UK. There’s no question of that.
“The problem is that the UK has become one of the most unstable fiscal regimes in the world from a perspective of natural resources and energy.
“It means we cannot invest with any certainty because we can’t be sure what future tax rates will be.”
The Ineos boss added that the US had a more stable tax regime and favourable energy security policies, which was why the firm had recently invested £3bn there.
He added: “For us, the future lies in other countries, mostly the United States. The United States has got a long track record. In the 1990s, it was producing 6.5 million barrels of oil a day and importing five million, but now it’s producing oil and gas equivalent to 13 million barrels a day and exporting. That’s proper energy security and a proper fiscal regime.
“The United States absolutely understands the importance of domestic supplies and how you can drive economic growth off the back of it, so that’s the place where we’ll be.”
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The UK windfall tax was first imposed by the previous Conservative government at 75% and raised to 78% by Rachel Reeves.
It was first introduced in response to soaring energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and will now remain in place until 2030.
Experts blame the tax for Britain’s industrial electricity prices being the highest in Europe, with official data showing costs rose 75% from 14.8p per kilowatt hour in January 2021 to 26.0p at the end of 2024.
Over the same period, industrial gas prices more than doubled from 2.5p per kilowatt hour to 5.5p.
These prices are five times greater than in the US and three times higher than in the EU and they have driven the output of energy-intensive industries down by 33%.
A Treasury spokesperson said: “We know that oil and gas will be with us for decades to come. We will manage the transition to clean energy in a balanced way that helps communities, creates jobs and supports workers to reskill.
“The Energy Profits Levy [windfall tax] will end by March 31 2030 at the latest, and we are working with leaders from the sector to discuss the system after that.”