Cllr Richard Watts, who has been Islington Council leader for the past eight years

• ON February 26 this year you published a long article on the resigning leader of Islington Council, Cllr Richard Watts, (I won’t miss the party’s factionalism, says council leader as he steps down).

That piece made no mention of his likely collusion with one of the greatest crimes of our time, the arms trade.

I do not say that Cllr Watts is personally involved in that trade, but he is misleading when frankness is necessary.

On June 2 2019 I asked him about the council’s investment in that trade. He replied that the council was not involved. It was the pension fund that was involved.

And, certainly, pension funds cannot be left out of this discussion. For example, here is a link to a 2021 statement from the council about the pension fund’s investments in several arms companies: (My CAAT – Guest blog: Arms Trade Local – Islington Borough Council and the arms trade).

But does not the claim that that fund is separate from the council add up to moral duplicity?

After all, the dosh comes mainly from the citizens of Islington, is managed by Islington councillors, and is intended for Islington council workers.

For divestment from the arms trade, there is a precedent: divestment from fossil fuels. Last year the press reported on fossil fuel divestment by the council. If it can do that with fossil fuels, why can’t it do that with arms?

Probably most Britons do not know that the “UK remains second biggest arms exporter” (a recent headline in The Guardian).

Probably most do not know that taxpayers pay the wages of politicians and civil servants who do the dirty deals with arms companies that make some of the weapons that fuel the wars that cause the refugees that we repel at Kent.

The solution is having our engineers make green and socially useful things, not hiding behind half-truths.

NEIL DEVLIN
Horsell Road, N5