CAMPAGNERS dressed as cleaners with mops and brooms were joined by councillors to call on West Yorkshire's local authority pension fund to learn lessons from the recent floods and redirect investments away from the fossil fuels that cause climate change.

The Fossil Free WYPF (West Yorkshire Pension Fund) group said Boxing Day flooding that hit parts of West Yorkshire, including Bradford, highlighted the urgent need for change.

The group was outside the WYPF office on Godwin Street in Bradford on Saturday, with a banner saying, ‘Clean up West Yorkshire Pension Fund: stop investing in fossil fuels’.

Councillors Kevin Warnes (Green, Shipley), Richard Dunbar (Lab, Thornton and Allerton) and Sue Duffy (Lab, Thornton and Allerton) all joined the action.

Cllr Warnes said: "The hundreds of people across West Yorkshire who were affected by the recent flooding must be wondering why the West Yorkshire Pension Fund has over £671 million invested in coal, oil and gas companies."

Jane Thewlis, Bradford resident and campaign group member, added: " If WYPF is serious about securing a prosperous future for pension scheme members, it must divest from companies like Shell and BP, whose products are making climate change worse and flooding more likely."

In October, Bradford Council passed a motion acknowledging the campaign, but also noting that "the first duty of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund is to pay the staff their pension benefits when they retire".

The council also asked its governance and audit committee and corporate overview and scrutiny committee to jointly look into the scale of the fund's investment in fossil fuels and the implications of any withdrawal from these investments.