A North Yorkshire County Council pension fund invests £15m in arms companies that have built weapons for the deadly Saudi Arabia-led bombing campaign in Yemen.

The revelations come as part of a series of investigations by the Stray Ferret into controversial investments made by the North Yorkshire Pension Fund, which is controlled by the council.

The Stray Ferret obtained a full list of the companies the pension fund invests in through a freedom of information request.

The council’s pension fund is now facing renewed calls to divest from arms firms. However, its own responsible investment policy, last updated in July 2021, clearly states that it will not implement an “exclusionary policy” against companies that are deemed by some to be questionable.

It says:

“Whilst the Fund recognises that there is the potential for investment in certain sectors to cause harm, it will not implement an exclusionary policy against investment in any particular sector or company purely based on social, ethical or environmental reasons”.

Ethical questions for council

The fund has an investment worth £11m in the UK’s largest arms manufacturer BAE Systems.

Company reports analysed by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) found BAE Systems, via the UK government, has sold at least £15bn worth of arms and services to the Saudi military since the Yemen conflict began in 2015.

According to UNICEF, over 10,000 children in Yemen have been killed in the conflict, which is between a Saudi-backed Sunni group and Shia Muslims.

Professor Anna Stavrianakis is an expert on the global arms trade and is a Professor of International Relations at the University of Sussex. She told the Stray Ferret the pension fund’s investment in BAE Systems raises ethical questions for NYCC.

She said:

“The basic ethical premise of investment is that you invest now to secure a better future for yourself. If you do that by investing funds in a company that in an extremely direct way has contributed to the deaths of other people, it is not that much of a stretch to say there’s an ethical issue there.

“If I was a council employee I would be asking where is my money being invested, and at whose expense is my future being secured? They can be painful questions to answer.”

‘Death and destruction’

North Yorkshire Pension Fund also holds £3.7m in Raytheon Technologies, an American defence company that manufacturers the controversial Paveway bomb.

Fragments of the bomb were found following a 2019 Saudi-led air strike in Yemen that killed six civilians, including three children.

A Paveway bomb being dropped. Credit – Raytheon

In 2019, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) submitted a 300-page document accusing European arms executives at firms, including BAE and Raytheon, of “aiding and abetting” alleged war crimes in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition.

Kirsten Bayes from the Campaign Against Arms Trade, called on North Yorkshire County Council to reconsider its pension fund’s investments into arms companies.

As well as BAE Systems and Raytheon, the pension fund also invests £7.3m in Safran and £6.9m in Rolls Royce, which are both major manufacturers of military equipment.

Ms Bayes said:

“Arms companies make their money from death and destruction. Council tax payers and pensioners in North Yorkshire will be shocked to learn that their funds are invested so heavily in such a violent industry.

“We would call on the trustees of the pension fund to reconsider their investments in weapons makers. Their money could instead be helping to create new, green jobs in the high growth industries of the future. That would be a better deal for everyone.”

Councillor defends the investment

Harrogate Borough Council Conservative councillor Jim Clark has sat on the Pension Fund’s committee of councillors since 2001 after a career in finance. He represents all the district councils in North Yorkshire.

He defended the investment in BAE Systems when asked by the Stray Ferret. He said the £11m holding represents a “very, very small” part of the fund’s total investments and that the fund’s main responsibility is to maximise its value, although he said “various people have different views on that”.

Cllr Jim Clark

Cllr Clark believes by remaining as an investor in companies that are deemed by some to be controversial, it can use its power to influence decision-making.

He said:

“Theres no point saying ‘just sell the shares’. If you have no shares you have no way of influencing decisions made, people tend to forget that when they make comments that haven’t been properly thought through.

“Successful companies will always listen to their shareholders. It’s very important that they do.”

Cllr Clark was unable to provide evidence of how the North Yorkshire Pension Fund has influenced decision-making at BAE Systems.

BAE Systems and council respond

The Stray Ferret approached both BAE Systems and Raytheon for comment.

A BAE Systems spokesperson said:

“We provide defence equipment, training and support under government to government agreements between the UK and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.‎ We comply with all relevant export control laws and regulations in the countries in which we operate and our activities are subject to UK government approval and oversight.”

Gary Fielding, treasurer of North Yorkshire Pension Fund for North Yorkshire County Council, said: 

“The pension fund needs to get the balance right on responsible investment and ensuring funds are available to pay pensions without further call on local taxpayers.

“Rather than divesting from companies, the fund believes active engagement gives it, in collaboration with other pension funds, greater influence in effecting change within companies”.

In the final part of our investigation into the council’s pension fund, we reveal it holds over £20m in cancer-causing tobacco companies despite the council being in charge of public health.

A new report has alleged RAF Menwith Hill on the outskirts of Harrogate has provided intelligence for American drone bombings campaigns in the Middle East, including the high-profile assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in 2020.

The report, called “Menwith Hill in 3D, Domes, Data and Drone Strikes” has been written by journalist Barnaby Pace on behalf of Yorkshire CND and Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign.

It says the aim of the report is to encourage “wider political and public understanding” of what goes on at the secretive surveillance base.

Built in the 1950s, giant radomes, or ‘golf balls’, are a distinctive feature of the site.

The Snowden leaks

Leaked documents from whistleblower Edward Snowden identify Menwith Hill as providing the intelligence for “a significant number” of operations to “eliminate” targets in the Middle East.

These include operations to target terrorists in Yemen through controversial drone bombing campaigns that have also killed civilians.

The United States has defended its use of drone strikes against terrorist targets as “necessary, legal and just”.

Harrogate Borough Council has approved several planning applications in recent years to expand Menwith Hill, which the report says reflects the “increasingly wide-ranging and technologically sophisticated surveillance apparatus” built up at the base. 

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Qasem Soleimani

Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was killed by an armed US drone in Baghdad in January 2020 and the report says it was “probable” that the facilities at Menwith Hill were used to target that drone strike.

President Trump, who authorised the strike, called Soleimani “a monster” and said his killing was “a good thing”. However, it ratcheted up tensions between the US and Iran.

The report says:

Alex Sobel, Labour MP for Leeds North-West, has asked the government whether Menwith Hill had a role in the killing of Soleimani.

A government minister said:

“In accordance with long-standing policy we do not comment on the details of the operations carried out at RAF Menwith Hill in providing intelligence support.”

An MOD Spokesperson told the Stray Ferret:

“RAF Menwith Hill is part of a worldwide US Defence communications network, with the base supporting a variety of communications activity. For operational security reasons and as a matter of policy, neither the MOD nor the DoD publicly discuss specifics concerning military operations or classified communications regardless of unit, platform or asset.

“US Forces maintain robust civilian and military cooperation with the United Kingdom and manage all base activities in accordance with the agreements made between the United States and Her Majesty’s Government.”

Local painter Clive Wilson is selling 10 of his paintings to raise money to help children affected by the civil war in Yemen.

Mr Wilson paints impressionistic and dreamy landscapes. Most of his paintings show the Northumberland coast, where he has a holiday cottage. Although he was born and grew up in Leeds, he has lived in Harrogate for 32 years.

He began painting as a teenager, when he would make pocket money by painting shop signs. Now he works as a life coach and environmental consultant.

He has written two books on business performance and sustainable development, and is also chair of the Harrogate branch of the United Nations Association, an organisation dedicated to promoting the work of the UN.

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The Yemen conflict has become the biggest humanitarian disaster in the world, leaving more than 12.4 million children in need of assistance. All proceeds from sales of Mr Wilson’s paintings, which cost from £40 to £110, will go towards Save the Children’s Yemen Appeal.

The paintings can be seen in the cafe of the garden rooms at auctioneers Tennants in Leyburn, which is open for takeaway. Alternatively paintings can be viewed and bought on the auctioneer’s website.

Mr Wilson also has a JustGiving page for those who wish to make a donation to the Save the Children appeal.

Campaigners will meet outside Menwith Hill on American Independence Day, July 4, to protest against the secretive surveillance base.

The event is being organised by the Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign and a letter will be handed to the site’s US Chief of Station. A webinar for people protesting at home will also take place and will include speeches from experts in the field of surveillance.

Sarah Swift from MHAC told the Stray Ferret they want to raise awareness about what goes on at the site, which she called a “great spider’s web underground”.

She said:

“They are collecting so much information and we need to question what the base is doing here.

“Some people see the radomes as beautiful artefacts but I find them very sinister.”

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Ms Swift also said that President Donald Trump’s unique foreign policy style could leave the area exposed to a military attack.

She said:

“I do feel very worried. The first thing in any major conflict is the enemies target communication centres first.”

The Stray Ferret has asked the Ministry of Defence, which owns the site, for a response to the protests. It has not responded at the time of publication.

Built in the 1950s, Menwith Hill is the United States’ largest overseas surveillance base. Giant radomes, or “golf balls”, are a distinctive feature of the site. A 2016 investigation published by The Intercept that included documents from whistleblower Edward Snowden found Menwith Hill has been involved in controversial drone bombing campaigns in Yemen.

Since 2000, protestors have taken part in a weekly demonstration outside Menwith Hill which has been halted due to lockdown.

In February this year, Harrogate Borough Council granted planning permission for the Ministry of Defence to build three new radomes at the site.