NEW research revealing that Derbyshire County Council has invested £17 million in weapons companies, has sparked the anger of campaigners against the arms trade.
Campaigners opposed to the arms trade say the research into local authority pension funds raises serious questions about the ethical values of local authorities' investments, which are largely made without the consideration of voters and council empl
oyees.
A spokesman for the Campaign Against the Arms Trade said: "Most of these companies sell weaponry to repressive regimes and into regions of conflict.
"All help fuel the burgeoning global arms trade diverting useful spending away from health, infrastructure and education.
"Public money deserves to support public goods, not missiles and warheads."
Derbyshire has £14,819,060 invested in UK arms firms, including BAE Systems, Rolls Royce and Smiths.
It has £825,685 invested in US firm Lockheed Martin, the world's largest arms company which manufactures Trident nuclear missiles for the US and Britain and manufactures cluster bombs or their components.
It also has £690,748 invested in Halliburton, the US military services conglomerate whose subsidiaries in Iraq are embroiled in allegations of overpricing and faulty accounting.
A Derbyshire County Council spokesman said its statement of investment principles was drawn up in 2000 following consultation with employing bodies, employees, unions, pensioners and the general public.
He said: "It reflects the county council's duty to place financial considerations first when making investment decisions and its need to comply with statutory investment regulations which require it to hold a broad spread of investments in order to control risk.
"Disinvestment from those areas of the market on ethical grounds would be incompatible with those requirements.
"Within the business sector there are many activities that different groups may object to for various reasons - activities some regard as unethical others will not."
Local authorities' pension funds across the country have invested £723 million in 15 of the largest international arms companies - more than double what the authorities spend on promoting local enterprise and new businesses.
