The Independent on Sunday reported that the move could prevent local authorities from refusing to trade with, or excluding from their pension fund portfolios, companies involved in the arms trade, fossil fuels, tobacco products and Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade said it was a “direct attack on local democracy” with far-reaching implications for all campaign groups .“Public money should be used for the public good, not to support destructive industries like the arms trade that profit from war,” he told the Independent on Sunday.“The government is always stressing the importance of localism but this is a direct attack on local democracy and decision-making.“At the moment the focus may be on arms companies and Israel, but if these changes are allowed to go ahead then they could affect almost all campaign groups.”
Source: ‘Boycott and sanction’ power to be stripped from UK councils | Politics | The Guardian
