Councillor is called out in pension row

A councillor who was instrumental in voting down a plan for the Avon Pension Fund to divest from the arms industry works for the Ministry of Defence and represents defence sector workers in the Public and Commercial Services Union.

- John Wimperis

Campaigners who have been calling for the fund to divest have argued that this is a “serious conflict of interest” for Chris Dando (inset), who is a Labour councillor for Radstock on Bath and North East Somerset Council and member of the Avon Pension Fund committee.

But the head of the Avon Pension Fund has insisted it is not a conflict of interest as the MoD is an acquirer, not a supplier, of defence products and Cllr Dando’s role is not related to procurement in any case.

The Avon Pension Fund runs the Local Government Pension Scheme for 140,000 members who work, or worked, for over 450 organisations in the West of England. The £6bn fund has said it currently has £18m - 0.3% of its total assets - invested in aerospace and defence companies, which it said primarily supply Nato partners and the UK government.

The fund has been under pressure to stop investing in the arms industry over warnings that arms firms are complicit in Israel's breaches of international law in Palestine.