‘Woke virtue signalling!’ Kwasi Kwarteng blasts Labour scraping investment in defence: ‘Wooing pro Palestine voters’
Kwasi Kwarteng has condemned Labour councils for “woke virtue signalling” after they divested pension funds from UK defence firms.
The former Chancellor told GB News that councils were failing in their duty of care to pensioners by making politically motivated investment decisions.
This comes as Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, is attempting to drive investment in such firms to improve Britain’s industrial base.
European nations are also trying to re-arm following Donald Trump’s call for the continent to manage its own security and provide arms to Ukraine.
However, some Labour councils are moving in the opposite direction amid pressure from pro-Palestinian activists who object to the supply of weapons to Israel.
One councillor admitted they had taken a “tactical” decision to exclude any mention of Gaza from divestment motions.
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Dudley council in the West Midlands became the latest authority to vote for divestment last week.
Four London councils – Camden, Islington, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest – have taken similar action in recent months.
Kwasi Kwarteng told GB News: “I mean, this is just pure woke virtue signalling because, actually, everyone can see that the defence sector if you look at people investing in Britain defence companies are some of the best companies we have.
“For Labour councils to say, ‘We’re not going to invest pensions in those successful companies because we want to virtue signal about Palestine’ or whatever it is, that’s wrong.
“I’m not downplaying the situation in Gaza. I am saying they have a duty of care to people with local authority pensions to make the best investments.
“Trustees have to get the right return, and they’re just using a political vote.”
He added: “It’s about the Labour voting base. We all know that there are these independent guides around the claim that, of course, it is.
“He can bang on about genocide and all the rest of it. I’m not denigrating that. But what I am saying is that this is very political.
“They’ve got a threat on their left. They’ve got a lot of very enraged Muslim voters about Gaza rightly or wrongly, they’re very enraged about that.
“This is merely a sop to those voters to appeal to them. I’m afraid the people who are losing out are the pensioners, who are paying in a different way.”