Surrey County Must Give Up Arms Trade Investment

5.15.38pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 25th Sep 2006

Summing up in the Lib Dem conference debate on ethical investment Sue Doughty called on Surrey County Council to stop its investments in companies whose main business is the arms trade.

She said "The level of complacency by Surrey County Council over its investment in companies who deal in the arms trade, and in particular supply cluster bombs which kill innocent people is awesome. There is no justification in terms of investment where the performance of these shares has been less than spectacular and there is certainly no moral justification."

Lib Dems last year called for an end to government subsidies in the arms trade and this year are encouraging councils to promote Fair Trade as hard as they can.

Sue Doughty, who since 2002 has been working with the community to turn Guildford into a Fair Trade Town has been disappointed in the lack of progress recently. She said "Last year we were proud to be awarded Fair Trade status for the town. And yet nearly a year on we have no signs to show that Guildford is a Fair Trade Town. We need to encourage people who supply Fair Trade Goods and we need to encourage people to buy them. People who are struggling to get a decent price for their goods need us to do our part to promote their business."