Croydon Council criticised for investing pension money in tobacco firm
by Ian Austen
ian.austen@essnmedia.co.uk
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"TRADERS IN DEATH": The council has been criticised for investing in tobacco companies
The council has been accused of dealing with "traders in death" by investing in tobacco companies.
The attack came from Cllr Maggie Mansell, Labour's shadow cabinet member for health at Monday's meeting of the council's cabinet which backed a new anti-smoking strategy to reduce tobacco consumption across the borough.
The council has around £20m of its pension fund for employees tied up in shares in Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco.
Cllr Mansell said while she supported the strategy itself, she wondered how many people would be puzzled by the investments in the industry.
She said: "The tobacco companies are drug traders, they are traders in death."
But Cllr Dudley Mead, who chairs the council's pensions committee, made it plain at the meeting that investments would go on.
He pointed out that in 1995 the then Labour council had refused to invest in tobacco companies and he believed that until the investments were restored by the Conservatives the policy had cost the pension fund £35m.
Cllr Mead said later: "The investments in the tobacco companies have been some of our best performers over the years.
"We have to have sufficient resources in the pension fund to ensure we can pay former employees so the burden does not fall on council taxpayers."
Cllr Mead added: "What some people don't realise is that buying shares does not mean the money goes to the companies.
"All we are doing is having a share in the success of the businesses."
5 Comments
by anon, Anon
Wednesday, September 30 2009, 3:25PM
“why dont they invest in fast food takeaways and off licenses while there at it...”
by tom, croydon
Wednesday, September 30 2009, 3:04PM
“I like an excellent drink and an excellent smoke !!”
by Arfur Towcrate, Waddon, actually
Wednesday, September 30 2009, 8:00AM
“Dudley and David (or should that be Councillor Fitze?) clearly lack scruples and probably brains too.
Croydon Council is prosecuting shopkeepers who sell cigarettes to people under the age of 18. It is working with the NHS to help people give up smoking and to discourage young people from starting to smoke.
At the same time, it is investing our money in the tobacco industry. How does it get a return on this investment? By expecting BAT and Imperial to sell more cigarettes. This is increasingly difficult to do in Europe and the USA. These companies' growth opportunities lie in Africa and Asia, particularly among younger people and women.
Christians believe that Jesus died for our sins. Croydon Conservatives believe that African and Asian people should die for the Council staff pension scheme.
They are being hypocritical in their smoking policy and racist in their indifference to the impact their investment choice is having on the lives of millions of people.
As for the bottom line financial argument that ethical investment leads to poor returns, that flies in the face of the fact that while investments in the FTSE 100 saw a 24.47 per cent dip in returns in the last year, ethical funds only saw a 16.74 per cent fall.”
by The3rd, Croydon
Sunday, September 27 2009, 9:15PM
“Well, as long as it is legal and the funds are performing, I wont complain.”
by David, South Croydon
Sunday, September 27 2009, 4:51PM
“Unless central Government makes smoking illegal I can't see the problem. Tobacco companies are apparently "traders in death", yet smoking is still legal... Couldn't Cllr Maggie Mansell's party have fixed that?
Some local councils do prefer "ethical" investing, but the price is normally poor performance. As there is also a push to get people to exercise and eat better, should councils also be boycotting investments in food retailers (who sell unhealthy food), car producers (people should walk or cycle), oil companies (pollution), etc?”