Reform councillor and cabinet member for finance John Lawson. Image from Derbyshire County Council.
Report by Local Democracy Reporter – Eddie Bisknell
Reform’s Derbyshire leadership has hailed massive pension gains linked to wind, solar, net zero and climate change investments, while claiming such “stupid” aims have “impoverished the nation”.
In a Derbyshire County Council meeting on Wednesday, October 7, the increased value of the £7.7 billion pension fund was discussed by committee chair, Reform UK councillor Matthew Benfield.
Cllr Benfield had issued a statement via the council press office a week after providing no comment to an article on the pension fund’s investments in climate change action, net zero, solar and wind power, to the tune of at least £1.9 billion (a quarter of the pot).
His statement indicated investments in this area would continue in order to “put taxpayers first”, despite Reform’s own political ideology.
During this month’s meeting, Cllr Benfield said: “It is worth acknowledging the healthy position that the fund is now in.
“At the last actuary report we were 135 per cent funded, that’s one of the best in the country, and that was up 35 per cent from previous years.
“It is also worth acknowledging that at the end of July the assets in this pension fund had grown by £700 million in just 12 months.
“Since that last actuary report, the fund’s assets have actually grown by £1 billion and that is no small amount.
“While we can’t control the narrative that media outlets choose to pursue, and we can’t control the agenda of individual reporters, I personally think that’s a story worth talking about.”
Later in the meeting, Councillor John Lawson, Reform’s cabinet member for finance, said: “Net zero, or net stupid zero, is an act of great stupidity in my view, particularly to do it unilaterally.
“The UK produces I think it is 0.8 per cent of the world’s emissions and since 1990 on a per capita basis, we have already reduced our emissions by two thirds [circa 60 per cent].
“As an Englishman, I would say ‘I’ve done my bit, we’ve done our bit. All of us have done our bit’.
“We contributed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by two thirds in my adult lifetime, whereas in China, their per capita emissions have doubled in that time and obviously their population is significantly more than it was in 1990.
“I am not blaming the Chinese for that, because during that time they have developed their economy, and some of their emissions have been effectively exported from other places like the UK and Europe and North America, so it is not a clear-cut case.
“This is a global issue and it has to be resolved globally. To try and do it unilaterally is the very act of stupidity.
“We have to look at the implications, what has actually happened in that time frame? It has impoverished us.
“We have virtually flatlined earnings on an individual basis for the last 10 or 15 years and that is mainly inflation that has been caused by some of these policies.”
Economic think tanks such as the Institute for Fiscal Studies attribute the “stagnation” of wages to poor economic growth compounded by Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing energy crisis – which is linked to wars in Ukraine and Iran and low long-term gas storage capacity.
Council reports show the Derbyshire Pension Fund invests in the following:
- £2.8 million is invested in Foresight Solar Fund
- £5.3 million is invested in Bluefield Solar Income Fund
- £6.4 million is invested in the Renewables Infrastructure Group
- £15.4 million is invested in Greencoat UK Wind
- £31.8 million is invested in BlackRock Global Renewable Power Funds
- £55.6 million is invested in Macquarie GIG Renewable Energy Fund
- £58.9 million is invested in Schroders Greencoat UK Fund (for renewable energy)
- £634.4 million is invested in LGPS Central All World Equity Climate Multi Factor Fund
- £1.12 billion is invested in LGIM MCSI World Low Carbon Target Index Fund
