Hackney Council and the Arms Trade

Did you know that the London Borough of Hackney has £9.5 million invested in arms companies at the moment, including £5.5 million in BAE Systems? Well, you do now - and if, like me, you think a company with this record of corporate crime shouldn't be allowed within a million miles of public funds, you can sign our online petition about the issue today.

Hackney Labour claim that, because of laws that commit them to thinking only about "the best financial return" when investing funds, they can't disinvest from the arms trade. Hackney Greens counter that it is perfectly possible to make a decent return without investing in death. The arms trade does not make up 3% of the UK economy - but it does now make up over 3% of Hackney Council's pension fund investments. We should disinvest now, and put that money into sectors that are guaranteed to grow and provide a return over the medium and long-term - for example, companies which provide green jobs.

Hackney Labour should take a courageous decision, and make a stand against the arms trade. They won't, of course - one of their most prominent councillors is a PR man for the arms trade - but that is just another reason why no one with a progressive point of view should be voting for them.

Freedom of Information request on Hackney's arms trade investments

The total amount (in £) of London Borough of Hackney's pension funds' shareholdings in the following companies for the years of 2007, 2008 and, if available, 2009

1. Lockheed Martin

250,792.31
253,308.85
243,887.64

2. Boeing

0.00
0.00
0.00

3. Northrop Grumman

0.00
0.00
0.00

4. BAE Systems

5,889,334.00
7,925,995.86
5,553,840.31

5. Raytheon

225,476.27
18,204.59
0.00

6. General Dynamics

51,807.18
0.00
241,992.85

7. EADS

0.00
0.00
22,963.50

8. L3 Communications

0.00
72,068.18
170,979.80

9. Thales

17,697.55
107,895.37
111,032.70

10. Halliburton

0.00
0.00
0.00

11. Finmeccanica

164,460.49
0.00
123,402.68

12. Rolls-Royce

682,645.51
594,989.37
433,345.88

13. QinetiQ

84,322.42
485,290.78
332,537.34

14. VT

370,787.60
68,590.80
75,817.36

15. Cobham

2,196,190.50
2,113,900.00
1,813,726.20

16. Meggitt

356,740.61
141,004.76
366,514.13

17. Ultra Electronics

50,073.90
52,004.46
43,839.80

TOTALS

10,340,328.34
11,833,253.02
9,533,880.19

Total Market Value of Pension Fund
481,178,080.01
458,971,805.98
315,341,441.84

Totals as a % of all LBH pension funds
2.15%
2.58%
3.02%