Jim Ratcliffe blasted for spending millions on Manchester United while Grangemouth workers face redundancy

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Billionaire tycoon Jim Ratcliffe has been blasted for spending millions on Manchester United while hundreds of workers at Scotland's last remaining oil refinery face redundancy.A century of refining will come to an end at Grangemouth in spring 2025 after owners Petroineos confirmed yesterday the site would be converted to become a fuels import and export depot.The energy giant - a joint venture between the Chinese government and Ineos - blamed falling demand for its products and rising costs for the decision to pull the plug.More than 400 jobs will be lost at Grangemouth over the next two years as the refinery winds down and work begins to convert the site.Ineos - an industrial conglomerate controlled by Ratcliffe - will continue to operate the separate petrochemical plant at the gigantic industrial site on the banks of the Forth.The English businessman founded the company in 1998 and took control of the Grangemouth refinery in 2005.Ratcliffe bought a 25 per cent stake in Manchester United in December last year - just weeks after Petroineos first announced its intention to end refining in Scotland.Unions and environmental campaigners last night blasted both the UK and Scottish Governments for not doing to protect the long-term future of Grangemouth.Unite, which has campaigned against the site's closure, said the future of the refinery should not have been left "to the whim and avarice of shareholders".Derek Thomson, the union's Scottish secretary, said: "The complex is critical to the nation’s manufacturing base and energy security."The governments involved cannot simply hide behind the convenient smokescreen that this is a commercial decision which they couldn’t influence."Rosie Hampton, of Friends of the Earth