Health campaigners have criticised West Yorkshire Pension Fund after research found it has £125 million invested in the tobacco industry.

Councils across the country have £1.3 billion of pensions funds invested in tobacco, with West Yorkshire accounting for the largest single value, the report by FairPensions and Action on Smoking and Health revealed. The organisations have challenged a view that investors have a duty to maximise returns through investments such as tobacco.

Christine Berry, policy officer at FairPensions, said: “It’s simply not true that the law requires pension funds to ignore their members’ ethical views.”

Bradford Council leader Councillor Ian Greenwood, chairman of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund, said: “Decisions should be taken entirely on commercial grounds.”