SURREY County Council has used taxpayers’ money to buy shares in tobacco, alcohol and aerospace and defence companies worth almost £50 million.
In August the council signed a deal worth nearly £900,000 a year for a public health firm to provide a stop-smoking service in the county. At the time officers did not confirm the value of the council’s shares in tobacco firms.
But the Mirror can now reveal the details of the massive cash pot, which also includes nearly £15 million of investments in tobacco firms, now worth more than £20 million, as of August 31.