Local authority pension funds have nearly £2bn invested in the tobacco industry despite the county councils they represent being responsible for promoting public health, including anti-smoking campaigns, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show for the first time the full extent to which the 99 regional pension funds, representing 4.6 million public sector workers, own shares in the tobacco giants that promote smoking around the globe.

Reported by the Independent on Sunday. You can read the full story here.

Matthew Burgess
http://www.mattburgess.co
I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.