INEOS CEO: I Have No Confidence in the UK

Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in Britain and can see no circumstances in the near future in which he would return and reinvest his wealth in the UK.

Ratcliffe, one of Britain’s wealthiest businessmen and founder of one of its biggest industrial companies, is now a tax resident of Monaco. He argues that high and frequently changing taxes, energy policy and a lack of long-term political decision-making have damaged Britain’s ability to attract investment.

“I don’t have any confidence in the UK, really,” the INEOS founder tells BBC business editor Simon Jack for this episode of Big Boss Interview.

One consequence, he warns, could become apparent this winter. Ratcliffe says Britain could run short of gas during a prolonged cold spell, potentially forcing industrial users to shut down. The UK imports much of its gas and has relatively limited storage, he says, leaving it competing on international markets with countries including China.

His warning comes as production from the North Sea continues to decline. INEOS operates the Forties pipeline, which Ratcliffe says was built to carry around one million barrels a day into Grangemouth but is now handling 178,000. “It’s just going to shut,” he says, while describing Aberdeen as “closing down”.

He blames an effective tax rate of around 80% on North Sea production for discouraging investment and says the government should approve the Jackdaw and Rosebank projects.

He also calls for a fundamental change in government spending priorities. Ratcliffe argues that Britain should reduce welfare spending substantially and redirect the money towards artificial intelligence and robotics, warning that the UK risks falling behind the United States in technologies that will shape future economic growth.

In terms of priorities for the govt? "Immigration is clearly one," he says, pairing it with North Sea energy and tax as the questions no one in Westminster will confront. He points approvingly to Donald Trump's "landslide win", won, he says, on "immigration and tax" — and returns to the same charge that runs through the interview: "Nobody's tough enough to deal with the immigration problem. Nobody's tough enough to deal with the benefits problem. But somebody needs to do it, otherwise it ends in a bad place, doesn't it? The country goes broke."

Presenter: Simon Jack
Producer: Ollie Smith & Olie D'Albertanson

Picture: EPA/Shutterstock

02:00 Sir Jim Ratcliffe joins the podcast
03:15 Exploiting North Sea reserves
06:08 Carbon taxes, dumping and the deindustrialisation of Europe
10:22 "I don't have any confidence in the UK"
11:52 The wealth exodus, non-dom changes
14:57 Britain "on the slide" and the need for tougher politicians
17:56 Cutting the benefits bill to fund AI and robotics
19:07 Universities, "woke" and Oxbridge admissions
19:33 80% of world energy is still fossil fuels
22:14 End of pod