EXCL MPs' anger as Commons pension fund links to Kremlin revealed
3 min read
Pensions paid to MPs are funded through profits linked directly to the Kremlin, PoliticsHome can reveal.
Investments in major energy companies enjoying business partnerships with Moscow are among those listed in the top 20 holdings of the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund (PCPF).
The revelation comes as nations across the globe expel Russian diplomats in the wake of the nerve agent attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury.
MPs from across the political divide condemned the investments - with one saying the Commons should pull its funds out of holdings linked to the "thuggish dictatorship".
According to its latest annual report, the £612m pension fund holds a stake in BP, which has an almost 20% shareholding in Rosneft, the Russian oil company of which 50% is owned by the state.
Documents filed to Companies House show BP made some £643m through its stake in Rosneft in 2016, engaging in projects to develop oil and gas fields in Siberia, among others.
The pension fund also holds a stake in Royal Dutch Shell, which is engaged in the massive Sakhalin 2 oil and gas project with Gazprom - the state-backed energy firm.
Just last year the two companies signed an agreement over a gas pipeline linking Russia and Germany, and they also plan to help build a liquid natural gas plant in the Leningrad region.
Elsewhere, the pensions fund has a stake in Roche Holding AG, a global healthcare firm which lists the Russian Federal Medical and Biological Agency - Moscow’s department of health - as one of its customers.
And it lists an investment with Total SA, which itself holds a 17% stake in Novatek - another Russian firm part-owned by Gazprom.
There is no suggestion that any of the companies which have invested in Russian firms have done anything wrong.
However, MPs said that in the current political climate, parliament's own pension should have nothing to do with the Putin regime.
Labour MP Ben Bradshaw told PoliticsHome: "It is unacceptable that pensions paid to MPs are funded by the profits of business deals with the Kremlin.
“After the Salisbury attack and the solidarity shown to the UK by nations across the globe, parliamentarians must take a stand and divest from funds tied to the Russian state.
“Our democratic system can have no truck with a thuggish dictatorship which seeks to undermine other nations whether through meddling in their elections or through hateful attacks on their soil."
Green co-leader and MP Caroline Lucas said: "Once again it appears that the MPs pension fund has investments which run against the principles of many of its members.
“The lack of accountability in the MPs pension fund really is appalling, and it shows an utter disregard for those of us wanting to ensure that our savings don't risk compromising our politics."
A spokesperson for the pension fund said: “In common with most large diversified investors, the PCPF currently has financial exposure to a very large number of companies and sectors.
"The decision to hold an individual share or bond in a company is made by the investment managers engaged by the PCPF.”
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
