A NATIONAL health watchdog is asking Worcestershire County Council to withdraw its investments in the tobacco industry - calling it "blood money".

The Faculty of Public Health says local authorities around the country are losing credibility by continuing to back tobacco firms despite playing key roles in trying to get people to quit smoking.

The pension fund, which has £1.5 billion of assets, has £15 million invested in British American Tobacco and £6 million with Imperial Tobacco.

Despite that, the county council has a statutory duty to promote public health and is heavily pushing the 'Stop Smoking' services across Worcestershire.

All but a handful of local authorities around the country have similar investments, adding up to £2 billion.

John Middleton, from the Faculty of Public Health, said: "These amount to blood money investments.

"They are simply incompatible with the role local authorities now have in assuring the health of the populations they serve.

"There is a clear case for local authorities to disinvest from these funds or risk undermining their credibility.

"We have a situation where, if a local authority employee is a smoker, then they risk not seeing their pension through premature death.

"How can investing in a strong tobacco industry be in the best interests of those fund members?"

A debate over the funds took place in January last year at County Hall, where calls to stop the investments were rejected.

The Conservative leadership has reiterated its stance by insisting it would be dangerous to draw a line on "moral grounds".

Councillor Adrian Hardman, the leader, said: "As we have said before, the pension fund is not owned by the county council nor exclusively for former council workers. "As an independent pensioner fund, it has a responsibility to get the best possible return it can for pensioners at an acceptable level of risk.

"The issue of where the pension invests has been discussed previously and my stance remains the same.

"I am concerned about involving the council in decisions about where to investment due to moral grounds when the investment is perfectly legal and has sound financial objectives - where do we stop?

"Over the last few years there had been calls to withdraw funds from a range of investments, including businesses such as Shell and British Aerospace, which may not have been in the best interests of those relying on the pension found for their income."

His stance comes despite a steady trickle of other councils now deciding to withdraw their investments on economic grounds.

Croydon Council became the latest to declare that its pension fund holdings would become tobacco free in the summer, and instead placed the cash with an ethical fund.

Newham and Brent Council has done the same, as has Suffolk County Council, which has asked its pension trustees to  take similar steps.

Tobacco funds have underperformed over the last year, making the financial case for disinvestment stronger.

The county’s retirement stash has 21,000 people paying into it every year, and accepts members from other councils, the NHS, police, fire service, schools, colleges and scores of other organisations.

It has investments with the likes of BP, Vodafone and HSBC and is part managed by a select group of councillors alongside finance experts and outside advisors.

The Faculty of Public Health is the 'standard setting' body for specialists in public health in the UK.