Fund investments

BAE Systems Imperial Tobacco Gallaher Railtrack BP Amoco Shell

Lead by Labour's David Hinchcliffe, who in the last parliament chaired the Commons health select committee, they are intending to ask searching questions about the investments.

Documents showed the cash - believed to total more than �300m - is invested in whichever companies offer the best returns irrespective of their ethical stance.

Tobacco investments

More than �2m has been invested into tobacco firms Gallaher and Imperial Tobacco.

Investments have also been made in the arms and aerospace manufacturer BAE Systems.

I personally feel quite aggrieved

David Hinchcliffe

Activists campaigned against the firm for selling Hawk fighter jets to the former Indonesian government led by President Suharto which orchestrated oppression in East Timor.

There is no suggestion that trustees or fund managers have broken any rules as they are legally obliged to get the best return possible for their members.

Surprise revelation

But Mr Hinchcliffe, MP for Wakefield, said: "This came as news to me and, I suspect, as news to most MPs.

"The only thing I can do is raise the matter with the trustees.

"I personally feel quite aggrieved. I only recently transferred from another scheme into the parliamentary scheme.

David Hinchcliffe: Angry at pensions supporting "deplorable" practices

"Now I feel very strongly about the tobacco industry - I feel very much aggrieved that we MPs appear to be having our personal resources invested in industries involved in practices I would regard as deplorable."

Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker said the news was a "big surprise".

"Many of us will be horrified to learn that our investments are helping arms companies and cigarette manufacturers.

"It is perfectly possible to get a good rate of return on ethical investment and we encourage others to take that line."

And Clive Bates, director of Action on Smoking and Health, told The Observer newspaper: "MPs should want to have their money managed in funds associated with health, welfare and the other things that people go into parliament for, rather than in peddling tobacco."

However, the fund's trustees are likely to stress that MPs have always been able to find out where their money has been going.