Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos has rescued a Runcorn chemical plant that supplies the chlorine used to treat 98 per cent of Britain’s drinking water.
Ineos Inovyn, the chlorine arm of Ratcliffe’s chemicals empire, has purchased the remaining 50 per cent stake in the Runcorn-based chlor-alkali plant that it did not previously own.
The acquisition gives Ineos full control of the site, which collapsed into administration in December last year under the name Vynova Runcorn Limited.
The deal is expected to complete before the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval, and follows months of uncertainty over the plant’s future.
The move is also expected to help protect one of Britain’s last remaining salt plants, which neighbours the Runcorn site and whose operations are closely interconnected.
Chemicals derived from salt are used to purify water and produce a wide range of goods, from construction materials and plastics to pharmaceuticals and explosives.
The collapse of Vynova Runcorn had placed roughly 90 jobs at risk and threatened around half of the UK’s total chlorine production and processing capacity.
Ineos boss Stephen Dossett said: “This agreement reflects our confidence in the long-term future of the Runcorn site and its skilled workforce.”
Dossett added: “Chlor-alkali products are essential to modern life, supporting safe drinking water, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, and the materials that underpin housing and critical infrastructure. This acquisition is an important step in strengthening the UK’s national resilience.”
The deal comes amid growing alarm over the hollowing out of Britain’s industrial base, driven by persistently high energy costs and carbon taxes that have hammered the chemicals sector.
Britain’s chemicals industry has shrunk by 20 per cent over the past three years, making it the largest casualty of the country’s elevated energy prices.
Industrial energy prices in the UK are more than four times higher than the US average and roughly double those charged across the European Union.
Ratcliffe has been a vocal critic of UK and European energy policy, branding it “all over the place” in a recent intervention, and has previously called for net zero levies to be abolished.
He warned that the levies were “killing manufacturing” and said: “To meet this tax obligation, we will be forced to pause vital investment in projects that were designed to make our operations more efficient and more sustainable.”
Ineos did not immediately confirm whether the Runcorn acquisition removes any requirement for a taxpayer-funded injection to secure the site’s long-term survival.