THE billionaire boss of Scotland's largest manufacturing complex has said that Britain may be better off if it left the EU as he launched an attack on the SNP's energy policy.

Jim Ratcliffe, the chairman and founder of Ineos which runs the Grangemouth oil refinery and petrochemical plant, said that pulling out of Europe would reduce bureaucracy, branding the EU "cumbersome, very inefficient and expensive" as a result of "layers and layers" of additional legislation.

He added: "I think the UK would be perfectly successful as a standalone country, part of the European marketplace like Norway and Switzerland... The Brits are perfectly capable of managing the Brits and don't need Brussels telling them how to manage things.

"I just don't believe in the concept of a United States of Europe. It's not viable and it's not a concept anyone really wants."

Mr Ratcliffe, whose estimated personal wealth is £2.5 billion, said he believed that EU member states would still be keen to trade with the UK if it left the EU, with economies remaining mutually interdependent.

A referendum on the UK's EU membership will take place by 2017, with the Scottish Government strongly opposed to an exit.

The Grangemouth plant on the Firth of Forth, which employs 1,300 workers and produces the bulk of fuels used in Scotland, is to be given a new lease of life from US fracked gas arriving on huge purpose-built ships from next year. Ineos is also keen to develop an indigenous fracking industry, having acquired exploration licences across central Scotland.

Mr Ratcliffe, who revealed in an interview with The Herald last week that the SNP has told him it is "not against" fracking despite calling a moratorium in January, criticised the Scottish Government for placing too much emphasis on renewable power sources such as wind turbines. He said that shale gas should be part of the country's energy mix.

"You do need an energy policy that can survive the depletion of resources in the North Sea and that's not going to be windmills," he said. "Windmills don't operate without wind, so you do need some backup."

He revealed that should Holyrood block his fracking plans, he would invest cash he plans to spend in Scotland in Lancashire, where Ineos also holds fracking licences. The UK Government has been a vocal champion of fracking, while the Scottish Government is unlikely to take a definitive stand before next year's Holyrood election.

The Scottish Government, which has said it wants all of Scotland's energy to come from green sources by 2020, said that almost half of the country's electricity came from renewables last year, creating major investment and job opportunities.