Redbridge ‘has £1.5m in tobacco shares’

Tonight’s Evening Standard is reporting that, despite campaigning against smoking, Redbridge has £1.5m invested in shares in tobacco firms.

The paper says the council “tried to obstruct publication of its holdings in such companies”, and says that £1m of the council pension fund is invested in RJ Reynolds, manufacturer of Camel, and a further £500,000 in other tobacco firms.

This is, it says, in spite of Redbridge having “one of London’s strongest anti-smoking policies”. The council told the paper that it had an ethical investment policy, but did not “fetter the discretion” of its investment managers.