Woodsmith Project: Social Justice Party and Reform UK parliamentary candidates join calls for Anglo American to reconsider cuts

Asa Jones, candidate for the Social Justice Party and David Bowes, Reform UK’s candidate for the Scarborough & Whitby constituency seat.picture: LDRS & Reform UK.

Parliamentary candidates for Reform UK and the Social Justice Party have spoken out about planned cuts to Whitby’s Woodsmith mining project.

Candidates standing in Scarborough and Whitby have joined calls for Anglo American to review its plans to cut investment at its Woodsmith mine by hundreds of millions of pounds over coming years.

David Bowes, Reform UK’s candidate and Asa Jones, candidate for the Social Justice Party, joined Conservative and Labour candidates who have previously spoken out on the issue and have met with the company.

Capital investment in Anglo American’s fertiliser operation is set to be reduced from a planned £800m a year up to 2027 to £160m next year following its rejection of a multibillion-pound takeover bid by BHP.

The company has said that slashing funds temporarily will save the project in the long run but would also impact jobs.

Asa Jones, standing for the Social Justice Party, said the company had “more than enough money to keep meeting its original investment target” but that it had decided to “cut investment and hence jobs in favour of maintaining profit growth for their shareholders”.

Mr Jones said he did not want to see the use of Government funds to “subsidise Anglo American profits” and instead proposed “nationalising the extraction of all such resources, to ensure that projects like Woodsmith are run in the interests of all people”.

He added: “Unlike other candidates, I will not be meeting with Anglo American executives”.

David Bowes, Reform UK’s parliamentary candidate for Scarborough and Whitby, said he was very concerned about the prospect of cuts to the company’s Whitby mining project.

He urged the company to see the project through and added that he would like to meet with the company to discuss the issues it was currently facing.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Bowes said: “I’d of course like Anglo American to show courage and commitment to the project and see it through.

“It’s extremely concerning what impact any ‘slowdown’ will have on local jobs.”

Mr Bowes added: “I’d be happy to meet with Anglo American and examine how we’ve arrived at this point and what specifics are reshaping the business project.”

Yesterday it was announced that Nigel Farage, former UKIP leader, would return to the helm of Reform UK as its leader, taking over from Richard Tice.

All Scarborough and Whitby parliamentary candidates or their parties and representatives have been asked for a comment.