Reform candidate responds to Green party challenge over business connections

A Reform UK election candidate has denied that he has any financial interest in his party’s backing for an £85 million county waste proposal.

Justin Reynolds, who is standing for election to a Shropshire Council seat in Whitchurch, was behind a recent proposal  to create a facility that could turn waste into hydrogen.

Mr Reynolds confirmed he is the head of Asia Pacific at a London company called Hydrogen Refinery Ltd which is developing the technology that would be used in the proposed facility.

But after the Green Party issued a statement highlighting the link, Mr Reynolds told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that said he has no contract with the company.

“The Greens have made a mistake because they saw this and assumed things,” Mr Reynolds said.

“They have decided to play politics rather than looking after the taxpayers.”

Mr Reynolds said:  ” I do not have an employment or any other contract with Hydrogen Refinery. It is true I am up on their website as “Head of Asia” but that is, through the environmental markets work I do in South East Asia.

“I have the right to use the PES technology. In regards to Shropshire, the revenues/profits from the project would be used to reduce the tax burden for tax payers in Shropshire around waste collection and to repay the loans the Shropshire Council, including the Greens, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have taken out from Central Government due to their fiscal incompetence.

“Shropshire Council will not be asked to invest in the project, and once the private investors have had their investment returned the profits from the project will go into reducing the burden on Shropshire tax payers even further. In a nutshell this proposal turns waste into an asset for the tax payers across Shropshire, rather than a tax burden via payments to a company based outside of Shropshire.”

He added that Hydrogen Refinery, as part of the project will receive income as any business would, but “as stated I have no contract with Hydrogen Refinery.”

Mr Reynolds added that it would be nice to hear from “the Greens, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives how, given they have created the mess Shropshire is in, how they are going to solve the following for the taxpayers of Shropshire.”

He included the state of the roads, health service, education, social care, and homelessness as issues to be tackled.

“Rather than playing politics and trying to dig up dirty on those putting solutions forward that reduce the tax burden on tax payers and save Shire Hall, it would be nice to hear from the Greens what they would do to solve the above, without increasing the already enormous tax burden residents of Shropshire and the UK already have,” he added.

The proposal had been promoted as being able to generate “£55–£85 million in annual revenues shared by taxpayers.”

Green party spokesman Councillor Julian Dean says the issue raises questions whether Mr Reynolds should have been open with voters about how the company he works for could potentially benefit from the idea.

Mr Dean said: “Everyone standing for election on May 1 has a duty to ensure that they are transparent with voters.

“According to its website this Hydrogen Refinery Ltd is developing the same microwave PES technology that would be used in the proposed Shropshire waste facility.”

A press release issued by Reform North Shropshire on April 10 included an anonymous party quote in support of the idea.

The press release was sent out by Mr Reynolds, who is the press officer for the North Shropshire branch of Reform.

It is the link between the idea, the council, and Mr Reynolds that has raised alarm bells for the Greens, who do not have a candidate fighting in the Whitchchurch South ward.

Councillor Dean responded to Mr Reynolds by saying: “Given that Mr Reynolds is listed as one of the five team members on the Hydrogen Refinery Limited website – a company that may well benefit financially from the waste proposals he is putting forward for Shropshire – he should have been transparent about this.

“After 16 years of the Conservatives running Shropshire into the ground, the Greens are offering a new start, not more of the same.”

The candidates standing in the Whitchurch South ward election to Shropshire Council are: Kevin Carty (Labour); Greg Ebbs (Lib Dems); Justin Reynolds (Reform UK); Paul Wynn (Conservatives).