LOCAL authorities that would have to enforce the Scottish executive’s proposed smoking ban have more than £80m invested in the tobacco industry.

The pension funds of 21 councils — 14 of them controlled by Labour and the Liberal Democrats — own more than 7m shares in tobacco companies.

The biggest investor is the Strathclyde Pension Fund, which covers 170,000 workers in 12 local authorities, including Glasgow, Scotland’s biggest council, and North Lanarkshire which has its headquarters in Jack McConnell’s constituency. It has more than £40m invested in Imperial Tobacco, the Gallaher Group and British American Tobacco (BAT).

The Lothian Pension Fund, which covers Edinburgh, East Lothian, West Lothian and Midlothian councils, has £25m invested in Gallaher and BAT.

Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen city councils have more than 1m shares worth £12m in BAT and Imperial while Falkirk Council Pension Fund, which also covers Stirling and Clackmannanshire councils, has £8m worth of shares in the same companies.

Critics yesterday accused the executive of double standards in denouncing smoking while its local government counterparts were supporting the tobacco industry.

McConnell, the first minister, has staked his political future on making a success of a ban on smoking in all public places. Last week he said the ban would help to save lives and transform the nation’s health.

Professor Phil Hanlon, the director of the Public Health Institute of Scotland and an adviser to the executive, said last night: “To hold the double standard of investing money in tobacco companies while supporting a smoking ban is not acceptable. The councils should withdraw their investment.

“The tobacco industry and health lobby are at odds. To invest in them is, in a sense, supporting the enemy.”

Stewart Maxwell, the SNP’s deputy heath spokesman, who lodged his own private bill for a smoking ban in pubs and restaurants last year, said: “What these councils are doing is outrageous, unethical and hypocritical.

“The whole purpose of the planned legislation is to protect people from passive smoking and drive down smoking rates. Clearly, if they have investments in tobacco companies, they will be hoping that the profits of these firms grow.

“The areas worst affected by premature death and ill-health through tobacco are places such as Glasgow. The idea that councils should be investing in the very companies which are bringing death and disease to the poorest residents of our cities is totally hypocritical. They must withdraw these investments immediately.”

Strathclyde Pension Fund professes to operate an ethical investment policy but it has been criticised in the past. Last year The Sunday Times revealed it had invested £40m in Rio Tinto, an exploration company accused of human rights abuses and environmental destruction in Indonesia.

Glasgow city council said: “The choice of individual companies in which to invest is at the discretion of external investment managers who have been instructed to take social, environmental and ethical considerations into account.

“We do not believe public sector workers should be denied access to a pension scheme which offers similar benefits enjoyed by workers from the private sector.”

Edinburgh council said: “The Lothian pension fund has a market value of £1.9 billion with about £750m invested in UK equities. Less than 1% of the fund is invested in tobacco companies.”

A spokesman for McConnell said pension fund investment was a matter for the local authorities.

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