Letter: GBC Should Answer Regarding Barclays Bank Investments

Published on: 2 Oct, 2026
Updated on: 2 Oct, 2026

Simon Higgins addressing GBC in 2025.

From Rose Callaghan, Mayonne Coldicott, Natasha Fletcher, Simon Higgins, James Poke, Hilary Stephenson and Martyn Turner.

West Surrey Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Guildford residents deserve straight answers about how their council manages public money in light of what is happening in Gaza.

For over a year, the West Surrey Palestine Solidarity Campaign (WSPSC) has lobbied Guildford Borough Council (GBC) to review its investments with Barclays Bank, on the basis that Barclays acts as a “primary dealer” for Israeli government bonds.

These bonds fund Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people. Independent research presented to GBC in July 2025 outlined this role, drawing on United Nations reporting. At the time, the lead councillor for finance, Richard Lucas, initially dismissed the data before later conceding it had merit.

In July 2025, Cllr Lucas stated publicly: “We have a set of guidelines for responsible investments, and we follow these, and we are already in the process of ramping down investments as part of our ongoing funding requirements.”

A recent Freedom of Information request has revealed that GBC made a further investment of £1.5 million in Barclays in November 2025 — four months after that commitment was made.

This raises straightforward, but serious questions that we expect answers to from GBC:

1. Why was a further £1.5m invested in Barclays in November 2025 after the council publicly stated it was ramping down such investments?

2. Which specific “responsible investment guidelines” were applied when this decision was taken, and where can they be viewed?

3. How does the council reconcile its public statements with its actual investment decisions?

Guildford’s MP, Zoe Franklin, has described the situation in Gaza as “a humanitarian catastrophe” and condemned the aid blockade and expanded military action as “abhorrent, unacceptable and a clear breach of international law”. We would expect our local council to hold itself to a comparable standard of honesty and accountability.

WSPSC believes that constituents have a right to know exactly how their money is being deployed, and why. We look forward to GBC addressing these questions directly and in writing.

Responses to Letter: GBC Should Answer Regarding Barclays Bank Investments

Martyn Turner Reply

October 2, 2026 at 4:48 pm

In addition to underwriting Israeli government debt, Barclays is also ranked as one of the top European creditors that finances business in the illegal settlements in the West Bank.

At a time when the UK government is in the process of an enacting trade restrictions and sanctions targeting these illegal settlements, Barclays carries on investing, and Guildford BC continues to be out of step.
John Maguire Reply

October 2, 2026 at 10:53 pm

The majority of these councillors are Liberal Democrat. Their party leader called on the UK to do all it can to stop the genocide. The most recent YouGov poll on 2–3 July 2026 found 50 per cent of the British public believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, while only 17 per cent believe it is not.

GBC councillors are elected to serve the “public interest”. Their conduct leaves no doubt as to whose interests they serve, and they are not ours. Shame on them.
Caroline Turnbull Reply

October 3, 2026 at 10:30 am

Another example of facts being twisted to suit the writer’s views. Barclays, along with a number of other banks, is a bond trader but does not fund Israel – see this article:
https://www.jns.org/israel-news/barclays-maintains-role-in-israeli-bond-market-for-now
RWL Davies Reply

October 3, 2026 at 12:26 pm

So Israel objects to being obliterated; seems a fair point.

It’s not genocide, it’s fighting for survival.

That’s not to approve all that’s occurring.
- Sam Peters Reply
  
  October 4, 2026 at 10:55 am
  
  Even Israeli genocide and Holocaust scholars call this a clear genocide. Israeli ministers have repeatedly and openly called for genocide, including specifically the killing of all children and babies, on live TV and in their own social media.
  
  It’s truly fascinating that some people still remain committed to defending the slaughter of tens of thousands of people, which even the Israeli military admit are overwhelmingly civilians even if every single adult male is assumed a terrorist, in land they were forced out of during the Nakba and the British-supported ethnic cleansing of Palestine which created the state of Israel less than 100 years ago.
  
  Additionally, GBC has declared a climate emergency, so why they would consider continuing to invest with the single largest funder and underwriter of fossil fuel projects in the UK?
  
  And this despite Exxon’s own scientists now believing 3C of warming by 2050 is a clear possibility, which the British Institute & Faculty of Actuaries have estimated could cause up to 4 billion deaths worldwide and the complete breakdown of any semblance of human society as it currently exists.
  
  Sam Peters is a Green Party activist.
- Simon Higgins Reply
  
  October 4, 2026 at 1:36 pm
  
  RWL Davies’ claim that this is “fighting for survival” rather than genocide ignores a stark reality:
  
  The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Amnesty International, Israeli Human Rights Organisation B’Tselem, Doctors Without Borders, and Oxfam have all concluded that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Mayonne Coldicott Reply

October 3, 2026 at 5:24 pm

Despite Caroline Turnbull’s plea on behalf of Barclays, it appears that Israel’s Accountant General is very happy to have this bank’s support.

Barclays’involvement in South Africa during the apartheid era is also noteworthy.
Angela Richardson Reply

October 3, 2026 at 8:35 pm

“A recent Freedom of Information request has revealed that GBC made a further investment of £1.5 million in Barclays in November 2025 — four months after that commitment was made.”

Either Lib Dem councillors do not have their eye on the ball (recent discrepancies in the Housing Revenue Account might lend credence to this), or it’s not really the right target for campaigners who are concerned about what is happening in the Middle East to focus their time and effort on (see Caroline Turnbull’s link).

Angela Richardson is the former Conservative MP for Guildford.
Jim Allen Reply

October 3, 2026 at 10:24 pm

On a reality level do peaceful people’s need 500km of tunnels, 5,700 entrance shafts installed in Gaza?

I’m not quite sure Barclays Bank are the problem..
Mike Smith Reply

October 6, 2026 at 6:54 am

Whatever the state of the Middle East, how this town is run has nothing to do with it.
Olly Azad Reply

October 6, 2026 at 4:42 pm

When the US and Isreal both attacked Iran on February 28 they never imagined that the war would drag on this long in the same way that innocent civilians are continued to be killed in Gaza.

Therefore, it is imperative that campaigner groups like West Surrey Palestine Solidarity (WSPSC) continue to scrutinise how the coffers of Guildford Borough Council is managed without any kind of hindrance.