Government is driving business out of Britain
Jim Ratcliffe says ministers and regulators are ‘increasingly hostile’ to UK Plc
SIR Jim Ratcliffe has blamed ‘ridiculous’ taxes and ‘overly aggressive’ regulation for ‘driving business out of Britain’.
In a blistering attack that underlined mounting concerns about the UK, the billionaire accused the Government and Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of being ‘increasingly hostile to business’.
The tycoon pointed to the watchdog’s decision to block a £790m takeover of a concrete additives firm by his chemicals company Ineos, as well as the windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas firms and lack of support for manufacturing.
Ratcliffe, who has a fortune of around £30bn and is in the bidding to buy Manchester United, is just the latest to criticise the UK and its stance towards business – highlighting how the Conservatives are struggling to retain the confidence of traditional supporters.
The 70-year-old, who was born in Britain but is a tax resident in Monaco, a move that has attracted criticism, blasted the CMA’s decision earlier this year to block Ineos’s acquisition of a concrete additives business from rival Sika. The Swiss unit, which employs more than 1,600, was instead sold to the US private equity group Cinven, adding to concerns that regulators are curbing growth in the UK.
‘The CMA and the Government are becoming increasingly hostile to business,’ Ratcliffe said.
‘This is yet another example of a deal being stopped that would benefit the UK and handed over to the Americans who were absolutely delighted.
‘The CMA is building a reputation as an overly aggressive regulator with little regard for the impact of its decisions on UK business.’
The regulator also came under fire in May after it decided to block Microsoft’s £50bn takeover of Call Of Duty maker Activision Blizzard – breaking away from European regulators who gave the deal the green light.
Microsoft president Brad Smith said the move showed how the UK was ‘ closed for business’ despite claims that ministers were fostering the next Silicon Valley on British soil.
Ratcliffe said the CMA’s approach ‘is mirrored in the lack of government support for manufacturing’. He said: ‘Add to this the ridiculous North Sea windfall tax and continuing high energy costs and we are seeing a government that is driving business out of the UK.’
Britain has been lambasted for its uncompetitive tax regime – with the burden spiralling to its highest level since the Second World War – which has led to an exodus. Ratcliffe moved his domicile to Switzerland in 2010. Although he then brought it back to the UK in 2016, he jumped ship to the tax haven Monaco in 2018.
‘I was getting anxious about what would happen if Jeremy Corbyn won. People like us, who are very wealthy and have been very successful, would have got clobbered,’ he writes in the book Grit, Rigour & Humour: The Ineos Story, which is published next week.
Weighing in on Ratcliffe’s comments, Luke Hildyard, director at the High Pay Centre, said: ‘As a billionaire in Monaco, it’s probably pretty easy to cry about the CMA or windfall taxes without thinking about the issue from the perspective of the rising cost of living or funding for massively overstretched public services.
‘Anyone with a £30bn net worth is going to be fine whatever Governments or regulators do so we really shouldn’t give their opinions much credence.’
A CMA spokesman said: ‘Effective merger control is pro-business and pro-growth.
‘Estimates show that during the past three years, the CMA merger regime saved consumers more than £2bn.
‘It also enabled UK businesses to enter new markets and grow.’