Ineos to shift all UK investment to US, citing Labour windfall tax and fiscal uncertainty

Ineos, the chemicals and energy conglomerate owned by Manchester United investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has stopped investing in the UK and will direct future capital to the United States, company executives said, citing high taxes on oil and gas producers and broader fiscal uncertainty under the Labour government.

Brian Gilvary, chief executive of Ineos’s energy division, told The Telegraph the company would not make further investments in Britain and that roughly £3 billion of new spending would be ploughed into the US. "We have stopped investing in Britain. Our future investment will not be [in] the UK. There's no question of that," Gilvary said, adding that Ineos could not invest with certainty while future tax rates remained unclear.

The move follows a series of measures affecting North Sea producers, including the widening of a windfall tax introduced after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband increased the levy on North Sea earnings to 78% from 75%, a level company executives say ranks among the highest globally for resource taxation. The levy will be extended through the end of the decade, the government has said.

Ineos operates a number of assets in the UK, including the Breagh gas field and the Clipper South rig in the North Sea, and controls the Forties Pipeline System, which transports about 30% of the country's offshore oil to shore. The company also previously closed the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland after more than a century of operation, a move that cost more than 400 jobs, and has warned its Grangemouth olefins and polymers plant faces pressure from high carbon-related costs.

Company executives said the United States offered a more stable fiscal environment and stronger incentives for domestic energy production. Gilvary pointed to the US's rapid expansion of oil output and said that country had "a long track record" of supporting domestic supply and growth.

Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who has previously criticised UK regulators and policy decisions, has warned that higher taxes and restrictions on new oil and gas licences risk eroding domestic production and increasing the likelihood of energy shortfalls. In April he said Labour policies were "squeezing the life out of our abundant energy reserves in the North Sea." The company has also cited other regulatory actions, such as a blocked takeover by the Competition and Markets Authority, as factors contributing to a more challenging business environment.

Government and regulator responses have pointed to broader policy goals. The windfall tax was introduced to capture extraordinary returns by energy firms amid high global prices and to support consumers and investment in the energy transition. Ofgem has said that "policy costs" imposed by the government have contributed to rises in the energy price cap that exceeded industry forecasts and that household bills will reflect measures intended to balance intermittent renewable generation with flexible gas-fired capacity.

The Conservative Party's energy spokesman, Claire Coutinho, responded to Ineos's announcement by urging the government to prioritise growth and jobs and to reconsider measures she said were harming British industry. The Labour government has defended its approach as balancing fiscal responsibility with energy security and the transition to lower-carbon sources.

Ineos’s decision to redirect investment to the United States underscores tensions between industrial groups and the UK government over taxation, energy policy and the pace of decarbonisation. The company’s officials framed the move as a response to immediate fiscal signals rather than operational problems in their UK assets, while critics argued it reflected wider unease among manufacturers and energy firms about the direction of British policy.

The company did not provide detail on the timing or specific projects for the announced US investment, and it is not clear how long the suspension of UK investment will last. The announcement adds to a stream of corporate warnings about the impact of taxes, regulation and energy costs on investment decisions, and comes as the government prepares to defend its fiscal and energy strategy ahead of forthcoming economic and political scrutiny.