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Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill has condemned the shooting of a senior police officer in Northern Ireland.

Speaking at a news conference on Friday, the party’s deputy leader said “we stand united as one voice in condemnation” of the attack on Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell.

“It is so important in moments like this that we stand united,” she said.

“And we do stand here united as one voice in our condemnation against this horrific attack on a police officer, someone who is part of our community.

“I think the most powerful message we can send is to stand with the chief constable today and to stand with the police service and to say ‘this is not good enough’.

“This is an attack on all of us, this is an attack on our community.”

Ms O’Neill was speaking alongside the head of Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) and political representatives from the five main Stormont parties, including DUP Leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, who branded those who carried out the attack as “evil”.

(left to right) SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable Simon Byrne, Sinn Fein deputy leader Michelle O'Neill, Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Doug Beattie, and Alliance party leader Stephen Farry speaking to the media outside the PSNI HQ in Belfast, where they are meeting following the shooting of PSNI Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell on Wednesday. Picture date: Friday February 24, 2023.
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(left to right) SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne, Sinn Fein deputy leader Michelle O’Neill, Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Doug Beattie, and Alliance leader Stephen Farry

He said: “I would say to the evil people who carried out this heinous attack and their organisation: You are not the future of this place. We stand against you.”

He said that his party would work together with other parties to engage with the government to ensure that resources are made available to the police force “to carry out its job effectively”.

Stephen Farry, the Alliance Party leader, added: “Today, all five parties of Northern Ireland standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the chief constable and, indeed, all of the brave men and women of the PSNI.”

File photo dated 17/11/20 of Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell, who has been named as the off-duty police officer injured in a shooting at a sports complex in the Killyclogher Road area of Omagh, Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Issue date: Thursday February 23, 2023.
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Picture by: David Young/PA Wire/PA Images
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Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell remains ‘critically ill’ in hospital

Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Doug Beattie described the shooting as an “attack on our community and attack on our hard-won peace”, while Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader Colum Eastwood said those who carried out the attack would “achieve nothing”.

DCI Caldwell was shot multiple times in front of young people he had been coaching at a sports centre just before 8pm on Wednesday, in Omagh, Co Tyrone.

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According to police, the attack happened while the detective was loading footballs into the boot of his car when the two men opened fire.

On Thursday, the force said DCI Caldwell ran a short distance after the first shots were fired and that his attackers continued to shoot at him as he fell to the floor.

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Omagh ‘pupils were directly threatened’

The dissident republican group, the New IRA, is the “primary focus” of the police’s attempted murder investigation, the PSNI previously said.

Three men – aged 38, 45 and 47 – were arrested in Omagh and Coalisland on Thursday morning in connection with the investigation.

A fourth arrest followed in the early hours of Friday – a 22-year-old was arrested in the Coalisland area.

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne has said that DCI Caldwell remained “critically ill and heavily sedated” in hospital following the attempt made on his life.

“We do not underestimate, from the point of view of the police service, how important it is that we are joined today in an act of unity from all the political parties across Northern Ireland,” he said.

“Clearly we know from what we’ve done so far and from commentary from across the community, and the political spectrum, the sheer sense of outrage of this pointless and senseless attack.”

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More criminal charges being considered over baby deaths at Lucy Letby hospitals

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More criminal charges being considered over baby deaths at Lucy Letby hospitals

The Crown Prosecution Service has said it is considering whether to bring further criminal charges over the deaths of babies at hospitals where Lucy Letby worked.

The CPS said it had received “a full file of evidence from Cheshire Constabulary asking us to consider further allegations in relation to deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital”.

“We will now carefully consider the evidence to determine whether any further criminal charges should be brought,” it added.

“As always, we will make that decision independently, based on the evidence and in line with our legal test.”

Letby, 35, was found guilty of murdering seven children and attempting to murder seven more between June 2015 and June 2016 while working in the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital and is currently serving 15 whole-life orders.

She is understood to have carried out two work placements at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, where she trained as a student, between October and December 2012, and January and February 2015.

On Tuesday, it was confirmed that three managers at the Countess of Chester hospital had been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

Police said the suspects, who occupied senior positions at the hospital between 2015 and 2016, have all been bailed pending further inquiries.

There is also an investigation into corporate manslaughter at the hospital, which began in October 2023.

A public inquiry has also been examining the hospital’s response to concerns raised about Letby before her arrest.

In May, it was announced the inquiry’s final report into how the former nurse was able to commit her crimes will now be published early next year.

Earlier this year, Letby’s lawyers called for the suspension of the inquiry, claiming there was “overwhelming and compelling evidence” that her convictions were unsafe.

In February, an international panel of neonatologists and paediatric specialists told reporters that poor medical care and natural causes were the reasons for the collapses and deaths.

Their evidence has been passed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, and Letby’s legal team hopes her case will be referred back to the Court of Appeal.

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‘Catastrophic failure’ led to Heathrow power outage – with chances missed to prevent it

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'Catastrophic failure' led to Heathrow power outage - with chances missed to prevent it

A power outage that shut Heathrow Airport earlier this year, causing travel chaos for more than 270,000 passengers, was caused by a “catastrophic failure” of equipment in a nearby substation, according to a new report.

Experts say the fire at the North Hyde Substation, which supplies electricity to Heathrow, started following the failure of a high-voltage electrical insulator known as a bushing, before spreading.

The failure was “most likely” caused by moisture entering the equipment, according to the report.

Two chances were also missed that could have prevented the failure, experts found, the first in 2018 when a higher-than-expected level of moisture was found in oil samples.

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Moment Heathrow substation ignites

Such a reading meant “an imminent fault and that the bushing should be replaced”, according to guidance by the National Grid Electricity Transmission.

However, the report by National Energy System Operator (NESO) said the appropriate responses to such a serious issue were “not actioned”, including in 2022 when basic maintenance was postponed.

“The issue therefore went unaddressed,” the report added.

The design and configuration of the airport’s internal power network meant the loss of just one of its three supply points would “result in the loss of power to operationally critical systems, leading to a suspension of operations for a significant period”, the report added.

Heathrow – which is Europe’s biggest airport – closed for around 16 hours on 21 March following the fire, before reopening at about 6pm.

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Heathrow bosses were ‘warned about substation’

Around 1,300 flights were cancelled and more than 270,000 air passenger journeys were disrupted.

Tens of millions of pounds were lost, thousands of passengers were stranded, and questions were raised about the resilience of the UK’s infrastructure.

More than 71,000 domestic and commercial customers lost power as a result of the fire and the resulting power outage, the report said.

NEOS chief executive, Fintan Slye, said there “wasn’t the control within their [National Grid’s] asset management systems that identified that this [elevated moisture levels] got missed.

“They identified a fault, [but] for some reason the transformer didn’t immediately get pulled out of service and get repaired.

“There was no control within the system that looked back and said ‘oh, hang on a second, you forgot to do this thing over here’.”

Sky’s science and technology editor, Tom Clarke, pointed to the age of the substation’s equipment, saying “some of these things are getting really very old now, coming to the end of their natural lives, and this is an illustration of what can happen if they are not really well maintained”.

The report also highlights a lack of joined-up thinking, he said, as “grid operators don’t know who’s critical national infrastructure on the network, and they don’t have priority”.

Responding to the report’s findings, a Heathrow spokesperson said: “A combination of outdated regulation, inadequate safety mechanisms, and National Grid’s failure to maintain its infrastructure led to this catastrophic power outage.

“We expect National Grid to be carefully considering what steps they can take to ensure this isn’t repeated.

“Our own Review, led by former Cabinet Minister Ruth Kelly, identified key areas for improvement and work is already underway to implement all 28 recommendations.”

In May, Ms Kelly’s investigation revealed that the airport’s chief executive couldn’t be contacted as the crisis unfolded because his phone was on silent.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, who commissioned the NESO report, called it “deeply concerning”, because “known risks were not addressed by the National Grid Electricity Transmission”.

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Mr Miliband said energy regulator Ofgem, which opened an investigation on Wednesday after the report was published, is investigating “possible licence breaches relating to the development and maintenance of its electricity system at North Hyde.

“There are wider lessons to be learned from this incident. My department, working across government, will urgently consider the findings and recommendations set out by NESO and publish a response to the report in due course.”

The Metropolitan Police previously confirmed on 25 March that officers had “found no evidence to suggest that the incident was suspicious in nature”.

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The PM faced down his party on welfare and lost. I suspect things may only get worse

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The PM faced down his party on welfare and lost. I suspect things may only get worse

So much for an end to chaos and sticking plaster politics.

Yesterday, Sir Keir Starmer abandoned his flagship welfare reforms at the eleventh hour – hectic scenes in the House of Commons that left onlookers aghast.

Facing possible defeat on his welfare bill, the PM folded in a last-minute climbdown to save his skin.

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Welfare bill passes second reading

The decision was so rushed that some government insiders didn’t even know it was coming – as the deputy PM, deployed as a negotiator, scrambled to save the bill or how much it would cost.

“Too early to answer, it’s moved at a really fast pace,” said one.

The changes were enough to whittle back the rebellion to 49 MPs as the prime minister prevailed, but this was a pyrrhic victory.

Sir Keir lost the argument with his own backbenchers over his flagship welfare reforms, as they roundly rejected his proposed cuts to disability benefits for existing claimants or future ones, without a proper review of the entire personal independence payment (PIP) system first.

PM wins key welfare vote – follow latest

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Welfare bill blows ‘black hole’ in chancellor’s accounts

That in turn has blown a hole in the public finances, as billions of planned welfare savings are shelved.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves now faces the prospect of having to find £5bn.

As for the politics, the prime minister has – to use a war analogy – spilled an awful lot of blood for little reward.

He has faced down his MPs and he has lost.

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‘Lessons to learn’, says Kendall

They will be emboldened from this and – as some of those close to him admit – will find it even harder to govern.

After the vote, in central lobby, MPs were already saying that the government should regard this as a reset moment for relations between No 10 and the party.

The prime minister always said during the election that he would put country first and party second – and yet, less than a year into office, he finds himself pinned back by his party and blocked from making what he sees are necessary reforms.

I suspect it will only get worse. When I asked two of the rebel MPs how they expected the government to cover off the losses in welfare savings, Rachael Maskell, a leading rebel, suggested the government introduce welfare taxes.

Meanwhile, Work and Pensions Select Committee chair Debbie Abrahams told me “fiscal rules are not natural laws” – suggesting the chancellor could perhaps borrow more to fund public spending.

Read more:
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Should the govt slash the welfare budget?

These of course are both things that Ms Reeves has ruled out.

But the lesson MPs will take from this climbdown is that – if they push hard in enough and in big enough numbers – the government will give ground.

The fallout for now is that any serious cuts to welfare – something the PM says is absolutely necessary – are stalled for the time being, with the Stephen Timms review into PIP not reporting back until November 2026.

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Tearful MP urges govt to reconsider

Had the government done this differently and reviewed the system before trying to impose the cuts – a process only done ahead of the Spring Statement in order to help the chancellor fix her fiscal black hole – they may have had more success.

Those close to the PM say he wants to deliver on the mandate the country gave him in last year’s election, and point out that Sir Keir Starmer is often underestimated – first as party leader and now as prime minister.

But on this occasion, he underestimated his own MPs.

His job was already difficult enough – and after this it will be even harder still.

If he can’t govern his party, he can’t deliver change he promised.

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