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Last Updated: Jan 31st, 2007 - 10:58:43 |
Ministers investing in cigarettes
Mar 20, 2006, 16:04
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MINISTERS responsible for introducing Scotland’s smoking ban have been accused of hypocrisy after it emerged they are paying into a pension firm that has ?126m invested in the world’s biggest cigarette company. Jack McConnell, the first minister, and Andy Kerr, the health minister, can expect a lucrative payout from investment firm Baillie Gifford, which owns 3m shares in US-based Altria, makers of Marlboro cigarettes. The value of Altria shares has risen by 230% in the past five years. Parliament officials believe the ?10m pension fund the firm runs for all Scottish ministers and MSPs is directly invested in tobacco firms. McConnell is also expected to benefit from a Labour party pension from his time as Scottish general secretary.The Sunday Times has learnt that the ?31m pension scheme for party officials is run by UBS Global Asset Management, which has a ?281m shareholding in Altria, which produces more than 25 brands of cigarettes. Since 1997, when Labour came to power, UBS has invested fundholders’ money in five of the world’s biggest tobacco firms, including BAT, Imperial Tobacco and Seita.Three months ago, the company sponsored a conference run by Imperial Tobacco, the makers of Embassy cigarettes which claimed the Scottish smoking ban was unnecessary and that most people would prefer limited restrictions.Opposition politicians said they were astonished that public money was being ploughed into a firm that supports the tobacco industry at a time when legislation is being introduced to curb smoking in public on health grounds.Stewart Maxwell, health spokesman for the Scottish National party, said ministers were guilty of breathtaking hypocrisy.He is to demand a review by those responsible for overseeing the parliamentary pension scheme, to ensure that it has no links with the tobacco industry. “I am extremely concerned about this. We shouldn’t have anything to do with companies that profit from killing people around the world,” he said.“It is utterly unacceptable that we are not backing an ethical company. I will be writing to the parliamentary corporate body for details of what they are doing. I want it changed.”A Scottish parliament spokeswoman said the decision by MSPs to join a pooled fund with other investors meant they cannot ask Baillie Gifford to avoid investing in certain industries. They decided against setting up their own portfolio because they believed the initial size of the scheme’s assets was too small. The value of units in the fund has grown by about 11% over the past three years.Tommy Sheppard, Scottish Labour’s former deputy general secretary who was denied access to information on his party’s pension fund investments, described the connections with the tobacco industry as “bizarre”. “Not only should Labour be encouraging ethical investment but it should be leading by example. If it does not do so it risks being in conflict with its own objectives,” he said.
© Copyright 2006 by CigarettesOn.Com
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