Ineos chief's plea to UK: cut tax and energy costs In his presentation, seen by The Daily Telegraph, Mr Ratcliffe told the Chancellor that Britain lacked USPs - unique selling points - for manufacturing investment. He said Britain, as an island, was already disadvantaged on transport costs, but to this could be added "energy, pensions, government attitude, unions, infrastructure quality, skills and tax." By contrast, the shale gas revolution in America had given the US a big advantage on energy costs, while Germany had "excellent skills" and "a very strong manufacturing base," and China had a "massive market" and "cheap labour costs." Pointing out that Ineos's Runcorn plant consumes as much energy as the city of Liverpool, Mr Ratcliffe's presentation showed that electricity prices for big users in Britain dwarfed those of the US Gulf, Nordic countries, Germany and France. Part of the reason was environmental taxes, with Britain paying more than €6 (£5.12) per megawatt hour (MWh), versus less than €1 in Germany and zero in the US Gulf. Mr Ratcliffe also said Ineos would be willing to take baseload energy from a new nuclear plant if it were structured like the EDF/Exeltium project financing model in France. There, around 30 large electricity users have given €2bn of funding to EDF Energy in return for guaranteed electricity over 24 years at €45 per MWh - way below the £92.50 MWh "strike price" for Britain's new Hinkley Point C nuclear plant. Mr Ratcliffe, who believes Britain must move quicker to exploit shale gas, also told the Government to "reduce the aspirational targets for university attendance" to produce a more vocationally skilled workforce. He urged the Government to "get rid of the idea that everyone should get a degree regardless of whether it is worth anything." Mr Ratcliffe, who on Friday reversed his decision to close the Grangemouth petrochemicals plant after the unions signed up to Ineos's survival plan, declined to say who he had met in the Government. "I did talk with some very senior people, almost as senior as you can get," he said this weekend. All I was trying to say is manufacturing is extremely important for the UK economy. Otherwise you end up with an entirely service-based economy, which is fragile. He said he had made no threats over Grangemouth or any other UK assets. "It was more philosophical than that," he said. "It was more 'If you want to encourage manufacturing in the UK, you have to have some reason to invest" - and Britain hasn't got many USPs."