Friday, February 23, 2024

Farming 'needs a plan' says outgoing NFU leader

By Dave Harvey
BBC West,
 Business and Environment Correspondent
Minette Batters has been President of the National Farmers Union since 2018

The leader of Britain's farming union has said there is "still no plan" for food production in the UK.

Wiltshire farmer Minette Batters, is retiring after six years as President of the NFU.

In that time she has negotiated with the government to create support for farmers, after Britain left the EU.

But four years after Brexit, she said farmers are "still not able to produce food sustainably and produce more of it."
'Policy earthquake'

Ten years ago Minette Batters left her beef and arable farm in the small village of Downton, south of Salisbury, to become deputy President of the National Farmers' Union (NFU).

Farming was always politically controversial, but she had no idea what she would face over the next decade.

Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and then the war in Ukraine would test British farming severely.

When she was elected NFU President in 2018, Britain had voted to leave the EU, but exactly what that would mean for farming rules and subsidies was still up in the air.

"It was an earthquake for farming policy," one farmer told me.

Hugh Padfield makes award winning cheese near Bath

Hugh Padfield runs 170 dairy cows near Bath, Somerset, and makes their milk into Bath Soft Cheese. His farm is a success, his cheese wins multiple awards.

But like all farmers, government support and the detail of food regulation is crucial to his business.

He said: "When we left the EU we were tearing up what farmers were dependent upon.

"We needed to create a new policy fit for purpose for British farming.

"So it's been really great to have Minette at the helm arguing the case for farmers."

New farming rules

The new regulations are still taking shape. Instead of the European Common Agricultural Policy, British farmers will live by the Environmental Land Management System (ELMS).

There is a complex range of subsidies for looking after wildlife, increasing biodiversity, leaving land to nature, even allowing land to flood. Much is still to be decided or announced.

Minette Batters estimates the new rules for England are "about 50% there".

Some farmers think Ms Batters has not battled hard enough.

"There was not enough challenging of government," said Liz Webster.

"We need a call to arms" said Liz Webster, of Save British Farming

I met Mrs Webster at her family farm near Cricklade, Wiltshire. They farm beef cattle, grow arable crops to feed them, and have a solar farm too.

She is a co-founder of the campaign group, "Save British Farming", and urges more direct action and tough negotiating tactics.

Recent demonstrations by angry farmers in Spain, France and Greece have prompted many British farmers to wonder if the NFU is too diplomatic, too careful.

Liz Webster recalls one meeting Minette Batters had with Boris Johnson, who was then Prime Minister.

She said she was astonished that Minette believed him when he said he would die before he harmed farming.

"I wish I had been there, we needed more of a fight, a call to arms, and that never happened."

Spanish farmers protest in Pamplona outside a regional government building

For her part, Minette Batters continues quiet, steely diplomacy. When Rishi Sunak came to her last NFU conference as President, she smiled, shook his hand, patted him on the back.

But there is a challenge there, nonetheless.

She told the BBC: "Farmers really want to know what the plan for food production is.

"A lot of time has been wasted in politics, I've worked with six secretaries of state.

"Focussing on the general election, the question now is this. What is every party's plan for sustainable food production?

"That's what farmers want to know," she added.


The Prime Minister's recent support package for farmers is welcome, but there is more to be done

Post-Brexit, we now have the power to improve the fairness of contracts between farmers and supermarkets

Farmers stitch local communities together, and the Government has a duty to protect the

British farmers produce some of the highest quality food anywhere in the world. But for farm businesses to continue to thrive while bolstering efforts to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss, the Government needs to reward and incentivise the shift to more sustainable farming practices and technologies. The Prime Minister’s announcements yesterday build on the Government’s strong record of supporting farmers and helping them become more sustainable. But with a general election on the horizon, support in rural areas slipping, and persistent environmental and economic challenges facing farmers, the Government should go further. 

Conservatives have always understood farmers’ central roles in feeding the nation, powering our economy, and managing the countryside and our natural environment. Indeed, it is impossible to imagine our green and pleasant land – the source of our national pride for centuries – without them. Toiling away in all weathers and all seasons, farmers make countless sacrifices to produce food and tend to their land. 

Despite their hard work, farmers are facing more challenges than ever. Following the pandemic and Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, farmers’ profit margins have been squeezed by soaring input prices and labour shortages. Furthermore, research shows that farmers often receive less than one percent of the total profit across the food supply chain. The market is dominated by a small number of food processors and supermarkets who often write contracts on flexible terms to suit their own business needs. If we are to secure the future of farming and stem pressure to use public money to subsidise food production rather than environmental public goods, we must right this wrong. 

The Prime Minister’s announcements, building on the Environment Secretary’s update to the farming schemes in January, have been positive steps to address farmers’ concerns. Wider reviews into the fairness of food supply chains are welcome, but the Government should now go further and require longer-term contracts for farmers, as well as give greater powers to the regulator to ensure supermarkets pay farmers what they agreed. 

By encouraging more sustainable and profitable private food markets, public money can properly be focused on public goods, like improved soil and water quality. The Agriculture Act passed in 2020 represented the largest reform to agricultural policy in the UK in nearly 50 years. Taking advantage of our post-Brexit freedoms, the Government now has the power to improve the fairness of contracts between farmers, food processors, and supermarkets. We must not shy away from using them.

Similarly, farmers’ efforts to sell more sustainable, seasonal produce directly to local consumers are often frustrated by planning red tape. The Prime Minister’s welcome announcement of the so-called ‘Clarkson’s clause’, which would extend permitted development rights to the conversion of agricultural buildings into farm shops, echoes a recent call from the Conservative Environment Network. But more remains to be done. 

The construction of vital on-farm environmental infrastructure, like slurry stores and reservoirs, which can help to improve water quality and strengthen our resilience to climate change, is often held up or even blocked by the planning system. Despite generous grants to encourage this infrastructure, many farmers face extra costs as a result of delays in the planning system. Extending permitted rights to both slurry stores and medium-sized on-farm reservoirs could deliver real benefits for our natural world. 

Some progress was made towards making it easier for farmers to upgrade farm infrastructure and access the latest agri-tech. New and higher grants could help farmers to reduce their inputs and their footprint on the land, as well as improving productivity. 

To ensure we deliver on the promises made in 2019 – public money for public goods and lower environmental costs to food production – the Government needs to maintain its budget for the Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs). Without this support, some farmers may choose not to participate in the schemes, limiting the prospect of halting the decline of biodiversity by 2030 and reaching Net Zero by 2050. The Government should therefore restore the ELMs budget in real terms to its 2019 level and index it to future increases in inflation in the next parliament. 

At the same time, we need to remove the barriers that may stop farmers from engaging with new agri-environment schemes. Agricultural relief on inheritance tax, for example, is available on ‘productive’ agricultural land, but farmland which is delivering benefits for nature as part of ELMs or private nature markets is not eligible. This creates a perverse incentive to not participate. The Chancellor should redress this imbalance at the Budget. 

Recent by-election results show the erosion of old electoral certainties and the increased competition for the rural vote. Public outrage at the felling of the Sycamore Gap last year and the salience of issues like water quality on the doorstep demonstrate the value rural voters place on political parties’ offers to protect our natural world. This goes hand in hand with support for farmers, who have a significant footprint on rural communities. 

Farmers stitch local communities together, producing high-quality food, creating jobs, and conserving our natural environment. There is a clear advantage for a party with an ambitious programme for protecting the future of farming and our natural world. It is now for the Conservatives to deliver.


Wales needs a new way forward for community ownership – report

21 Feb 2024 
Wholefoods of Newport – currently part of a local community purchase campaign Image: Coast & Country Holidays

New research has shown that Welsh communities face more challenges in being able to take over and manage assets which are at risk of being lost forever, compared to other UK nations.

Community Ownership: A Way Forward for Wales is a new report which paints a stark picture for the future of community assets, such as land, village shops and pubs, if changes are not put in place to help local groups save vital amenities from becoming derelict or being sold off.

The research was commissioned by Building Communities Trust from Plunkett UK, as part of the work being carried out by the Community Ownership Group (COG).

COG is a network of voluntary sector organisations which have come together to make the case for changes in the process by which communities can take ownership of assets.

The state in Wales

This new research provides evidence which shows that the situation in Wales is far worse than in other UK nations, with Welsh communities not having the rights afforded to people in England and Scotland.

Community assets are recognised as a being a significant factor in strengthening the resilience and wellbeing of local people, and our previous research has clearly shown a correlation between a lack of community assets in areas where people are less engaged, less active, have poorer connectivity to the wider economy, and experience significantly different social and economic outcomes to areas which possess more of these assets.

“Lagging behind”

What this new research tells is is that Wales is lagging far behind in terms of having the mechanisms and the support in place to help local groups to take ownership of community assets, at a time when many of these amenities are under threat due to the ongoing pressures of the Cost-of-Living crisis and government budget cuts.

Specifically, their findings show that:

·         Scotland has the most effective legislative options and the rate of community-owned assets has grown much faster than England since legislation began

·         The Scottish Community Right to Bid is several times more effective than the English version – with only 1.5% of nominated community assets transferring to community ownership in England, compared with 57% in Scotland

·         Despite the Community Right to Buy being used only 24 times, there is evidence to suggest that first refusal can give communities leverage to negotiate the sale of assets outside of the legislation.

Furthermore, the research also showed that 87% of groups questioned wanted to help save an asset from being lost to the community, but only 7% were offered the chance to do this. 77% of communities also reported challenges when trying to acquire their asset and the most commonly-reported barriers were capital costs, the high price of the asset and uncooperative sellers.

Options

67% of participants also stated they were aware of options and processes around community ownership before beginning their project, suggesting that having prior knowledge of these details was a key factor in getting this work off the ground. This finding is also particularly critical for Wales, where groups were more likely to report a lack of skills and knowledge being a barrier to ownership, as well as access to information and support from a more limited range of sources.

Our research therefore includes eight clear recommendations for government in order to redress this imbalance and provide community groups in Wales with theresources and framework to support asset acquisition.

Short-term recommendations:

·   Encourage peer networking amongst communities

·   Increase awareness about successful projects

·   Ensure access to online resources

·   Create a “one stop shop” for community ownership projects in Wales.

Longer-term recommendations:

·   Introduce a Community Right to Buy, offering communities first refusal on assets coming on to the market

·   Continue and expand capital/revenue funding to Welsh community groups

·   Consolidate application processes for funding where possible

·   Public authorities should recognise the importance of community ownership to

·   implementing the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act.

Eleri Williams, Policy Officer at BCT, said: “This new research clearly reiterates the well known challenges facing communities in Wales, in enabling them to manage or take ownership of key facilities. It also provides clear and achievable actions which must be implemented at pace, to protect key facilities for tomorrow and beyond.

The Trust

Building Communities Trust is a nationwide organisation focused on community-based work in Wales.

Their mission is to enable residents to build on the strengths and talents within their communities and to take action to make their areas even better places to live.

They do this through offering communities funding, support, opportunities for shared learning, and advocacy work to help influence the organisations whose decisions affect Welsh communities

New report on huge profits raked in by five of UK’s top healthcare privateers

A new report reveals huge profits raked in by five of the UK’s top healthcare privateers. The report is written by friends of Keep Our NHS Public, Corporate Watch. It was released earlier this week and uncovers the extent of the profits made by private UK healthcare providers.
It is reproduced here. For more information on their activities, please visit the Corporate Watch website.

KONP has been campaigning against the privatisation of the NHS since 2005. For more information on our related activities please click here.

You can also research and explore private contracts in your area by using our ICB and Trust Spending databases to track your local details here, where there is information and a guide on how to use it.


As the Conservative government continues to accelerate its relentless carve-up of the UK’s National Health Service, a new report reveals how five healthcare giants have profited from a share of public contracts worth at least £70 billion.

Corporate Watch, a cooperative grassroots organisation that produces in-depth research on corporate power, has published a new report in conjunction with Good Jobs First. Our three-part investigation delves into government procurement data to expose how much just five private healthcare giants have profited from the ongoing decimation of the NHS.

The new study shows how:

  • Since 2013, Bridgepoint, BUPA, Centene, Spire and UnitedHealth have been awarded shares of public health and social care contracts worth a minimum of £70.59bn. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first detailed data investigation into these five healthcare giants and their subsidiaries.
  • This is despite the fact these firms have been implicated in a litany of scandals and controversies. From lethal violations of patient and worker safety regulations here in the UK to horrifying cases of neglect in Australia and multi-billion-dollar frauds in the US, the track records of these companies are truly alarming.
  • The length of awarded contracts appears to be increasing year-on-year, as the Conservatives have sought to ‘lock in’ privatisation for the future.
  • All the companies we investigated show patterns of ‘horse-trading’ in their handling of assets in the healthcare sector. This is a ‘churn-and-burn’ business strategy that seems to prize short-term profit above stable and sustainable provision of services.
  • We discovered worrying gaps in publicly available data. At least 20% of tenders examined for this report didn’t record a total final value for the contract. This raises important questions about scrutinising government spending.

Corporate Watch targeted these firms because of their ties to the Elective Recovery Taskforce – an initiative launched by the Sunak administration in December 2022. It effectively ‘turbo-charged’ the provision of public health services through private providers in the UK.

It’s important to remember this is only the latest instalment of a privatisation drive now stretching back decades – so we’ve also released a timeline chronicling political developments from more than 75 years of NHS history to explain how we got to where we are today.

A Corporate Watch spokesperson said:

“Year after year, billions and billions of UK taxpayer money has been bled directly into the pockets of politically connected healthcare giants, without so much as blinking at their history of defrauding governments, abusing society’s most vulnerable, and exposing employees to unsafe and even life-threatening work conditions.

“Evidence suggests privatisation does virtually nothing to benefit the NHS or its patients. Based on just five companies, our findings represent only the tip of an exceptionally dirty iceberg, while the immense gaps we uncovered in the data expose the Conservative administration as a government woefully shy of public scrutiny, and wilfully blind to the stark and deplorable reality their healthcare policies have helped create.”

A spokesperson for Good Jobs First said: “Patient care and value for money should be at the heart of NHS contracting. Violation Tracker UK and US make it possible to check a company’s track record so that authorities can make better procurement decisions.”

Links to the 3-part Corporate Watch investigation

The National Wealth Service: Privatisation Profiteers

 

Calls for UK Government to protect jobs at Welsh chip-making plant

21 Feb 2024 
Newport Wafer Fab. Photo via Google

Labour has called on the UK Government to help protect jobs and end the “dither and delay” over the proposed takeover of Newport Wafer Fab, the UK’s largest chip-making plant.

The company has been left in a precarious position since the UK Government ordered the Chinese-owned investment company Nexperia to sell the business in 2022, citing national security concerns.

Labour’s shadow Welsh secretary, Jo Stevens, is now calling for the Government to stop delaying the sale and to protect jobs.

The factory makes components used in everything from mobile phones to fighter jets.

Vishay Intertechnology, an American firm, announced it wanted to buy the company in November 2023, but needed the green light from Westminster.

Redundancies

Ms Stevens said a decision should be made by the end of the month to prevent further redundancies, with 60 already having taken place in recent months.

Ms Stevens said: “Newport Wafer Fab is not just an innovative gem of south Wales manufacturing, but represents a glimpse of the high-skilled jobs and economy of the future the UK Government should be facilitating in Wales.

“But workers tell me that Government foot-dragging has them stuck in the mud.

“Conservative dither and delay is risking livelihoods and strategically significant assets in Wales.

“This economic self-sabotage is sadly not an isolated incident in Wales, and the Conservatives have long since lost the ability to promote any kind of industrial strategy. We will see innovation stifled and livelihoods lost unless ministers act now.”

While Nexperia is Dutch-based, it is the subsidiary of a Shanghai-based firm Wingtech.

Procrastinating

Workers’ group the Newport Wafer Fab Staff Association has echoed the call.

It said: “The Government is still procrastinating over the sale of the Newport site to Vishay.

“This could lead to unintended consequences of further job losses in addition to the 25% reduction in workforce caused by the order so far, and ultimately site closure.

“It is time for the UK Government to stop hiding behind the national security banner and show more transparency in the process.

“They also need to realise that Vishay are a US company, ticking all the boxes that the divestment order requires.

“If the Government do not act soon, they are likely to lose this opportunity. The Government will ultimately be responsible for the success or failure of this site and our ability to have a sovereign supply chain of a “critical industry”.

A UK Government spokesperson said: “We remain committed to a successful divestment of Nexperia Newport Ltd.

“We recognise the site plays an important role in the local economy and this is an uncertain time for employees and their families.

“Through our Semiconductor Strategy, we are working to ensure the UK sector continues to grow and thrive across the country, including in south Wales.”

 Labour calls for Government to protect jobs at UK’s largest chip-making plant

By George Thompson, PA




Labour has called on the UK Government to help protect jobs and end the “dither and delay” over the proposed takeover of the UK’s largest chip-making plant.

Newport Wafer Fab in south Wales has been left in a precarious position since the UK Government ordered the Chinese-owned investment company Nexperia to sell the business in 2022, citing national security concerns.

Labour’s shadow Welsh secretary, Jo Stevens, is now calling for the Government to stop delaying the sale and to protect jobs.

The factory makes components used in everything from mobile phones to fighter jets.

Vishay Intertechnology, an American firm, announced it wanted to buy the company in November 2023, but needed the green light from Westminster.

Ms Stevens said a decision should be made by the end of the month to prevent further redundancies, with 60 already having taken place in recent months.

Ms Stevens said: “Newport Wafer Fab is not just an innovative gem of south Wales manufacturing, but represents a glimpse of the high-skilled jobs and economy of the future the UK Government should be facilitating in Wales.

Conservative dither and delay is risking livelihoods and strategically significant assets in Wales

Jo Stevens

“But workers tell me that Government foot-dragging has them stuck in the mud.

“Conservative dither and delay is risking livelihoods and strategically significant assets in Wales.

“This economic self-sabotage is sadly not an isolated incident in Wales, and the Conservatives have long since lost the ability to promote any kind of industrial strategy. We will see innovation stifled and livelihoods lost unless ministers act now.”

While Nexperia is Dutch-based, it is the subsidiary of a Shanghai-based firm Wingtech

Workers’ group the Newport Wafer Fab Staff Association has echoed the call.

It said: “The Government is still procrastinating over the sale of the Newport site to Vishay.

“This could lead to unintended consequences of further job losses in addition to the 25% reduction in workforce caused by the order so far, and ultimately site closure.

“It is time for the UK Government to stop hiding behind the national security banner and show more transparency in the process.

“They also need to realise that Vishay are a US company, ticking all the boxes that the divestment order requires.

“If the Government do not act soon, they are likely to lose this opportunity. The Government will ultimately be responsible for the success or failure of this site and our ability to have a sovereign supply chain of a “critical industry”.

A UK Government spokesperson said: “We remain committed to a successful divestment of Nexperia Newport Ltd.

“We recognise the site plays an important role in the local economy and this is an uncertain time for employees and their families.

“Through our Semiconductor Strategy, we are working to ensure the UK sector continues to grow and thrive across the country, including in south Wales.”


GLOBAL FASCIST WAR ON ALL OF US

Liz Truss endorses Trump by claiming ‘West is doomed’ unless right-wingers save it


Former PM appears to all but endorse Donald Trump as she claims West needs ‘a conservative in the White House able to take on the deep rot of the deep state’

Andy Gregory

Liz Truss: Conservatives have not taken on left-wing extremists


Liz Truss has delivered an apocalyptic warning that “the West is doomed” unless right-wing politicians like her are put in power to save it.

Echoing the rhetoric of Donald Trump, she blamed the “deep state” for her downfall as prime minister when her policies sparked an economic crash.

Ms Truss made her controversial comments in an article for Fox News TV, the right-wing US television station credited with helping Mr Trump win power.


Liz Truss recently launched the right-wing pressure group Popular Conservatism
(PA)

Mr Trump claimed a secretive network of powerful officials and state institutes – the “deep state” – plotted to thwart his aims.

Critics dismissed it as a conspiracy theory aimed at blaming others for his failings.

Ms Truss said: “In too much of the free world, the left has been in charge for too long and the results are all too plain to see. Their agents are only too active in public and private institutions and what we have come to know as the administrative state and the deep state.”

She said she had seen it for herself first hand as the unnamed figures and bodies “sabotaged my efforts in Britain to cut taxes, reduce the size of government and restore democratic accountability”.

Her brief period in No 10 is best remembered for her catastrophic mini-Budget which sent the pound into a nose dive and sparked a crash in the markets.


Sunak reveals response to Truss being outlasted by lettuce: 'Country was in tough spot'

In her opinion piece, Ms Truss appeared to all but endorse Mr Trump’s bid for re-election.

Going even so far as to claim that “left-wing elites” will be “aided and abetted by our enemies in China, Iran and Russia” to undermine Western societies from within, Ms Truss continued: “In a vital election year for the US, it is why we don't just need a conservative in the White House.

“We need one who is able to take on the deep rot of the deep state and lead the free world.”


Her provocative comments are likely to attract ridicule from detractors who say she proved a reckless and incompetent prime minister, whose policies caused people’s mortgage repayments to soar.

But her allies insist her policies have since been proven right – and many Tories believe Ms Truss harbours aims of regaining the Tory leadership when Rishi Sunak leaves office, despite lasting just 49 days in Downing Street before being forced to step down.

The failed PM is striving to place herself at the forefront of a new brand of right-wing politics, recently lauching her so-called Popular Conservatism movement and now travelling to Washington, DC, where she is due to give a speech at the Republican CPAC event on Thursday.

Mr Trump is also due to speak at the event, alongside MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell, politician Tulsi Gabbard and Steve Bannon.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Government outlines terms of reference for independent probe into Omagh bombing


Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris ordered the statutory inquiry into the Omagh bombing (Paul Mcerlane/PA)

By David Young and Jonathan McCambridge, 
PAToday 

An independent inquiry into the Omagh bombing will examine alleged security failings that led a High Court judge to conclude the outrage could plausibly have been prevented.

The UK Government has outlined its terms of reference for the independent probe, which will be chaired by Lord Turnbull.

The dissident republican bomb exploded in the Co Tyrone town on August 15 1998, killing 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris ordered the statutory inquiry into the attack last year in response to a court judgment that directed the Government to establish some form of investigation.

It was a cruel atrocity carried out, not just on the people of Omagh, but on all those in Northern Ireland who supported the peace processChris Heaton-Harris, Northern Ireland Secretary

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden died in the Real IRA bombing, took the legal challenge that resulted in the Belfast High Court judge directing the state to act.

Mr Heaton-Harris outlined the terms of reference by way of a written parliamentary statement on Wednesday.

In his 2021 judgment, Mr Justice Horner directly recommended that the UK Government carry out an investigation into alleged security failings in the lead-up to the atrocity.

While having no jurisdiction to order the Irish government to act on the matter, the judge urged authorities there to establish their own probe in light of his findings.

A number of families of Omagh victims have repeatedly called for an inquiry to also be carried out into the bombing in the Republic of Ireland. Mr Heaton-Harris has also pressed the Irish government to act.

On a visit to Belfast on Wednesday, Ireland’s deputy premier, Micheal Martin, pledged to co-operate with the UK inquiry but said he did not think it made sense to have two inquiries into Omagh on both sides of the Irish border.



Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris outlined the terms of reference by way of a written parliamentary statement (PA)

The inquiry will be established under the Inquiries Act 2005 with full powers, including the power to compel the production of documents and to summon witnesses to give evidence on oath.

In his statement, Mr Heaton-Harris said: “I want to first again express my deepest sympathy for all of those affected by the Omagh bombing in August 1998. It was a cruel atrocity carried out, not just on the people of Omagh, but on all those in Northern Ireland who supported the peace process.

“Following the announcement of the inquiry in February 2023, and the appointment of Lord Turnbull as chair in June 2023, I have now agreed with Lord Turnbull the terms of reference for the inquiry. These are focused on the four grounds identified by the Northern Ireland High Court as giving rise to plausible arguments that the bombing could have been prevented.

“With the terms of reference now agreed, the inquiry can press ahead with its work to comply with the judgment of the High Court, demonstrating the UK Government’s ongoing commitment to taking proper action on legacy-related matters.

“The inquiry chairman will now undertake a setting-up exercise to design the inquiry as he sees fit, and he will announce further detail about the inquiry in due course.”

The inquiry will examine the adequacy of the measures taken by UK state authorities, including the police, security forces and intelligence and security agencies, to disrupt dissident republicans who had been involved in attacks from December 1997 up to and including the Omagh bombing.

It will assess whether that approach changed following the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998.

The first thing to stress is that the inquiry is an entirely independent body
Lord Turnbull, inquiry chairman

It will also probe alleged intelligence-sharing failures between the UK and Irish authorities in the year-and-a-half leading up to the bombing.

It will further test an allegation made by former senior police officer Norman Baxter that detectives investigating previous dissident attacks were not given access to full intelligence information on suspects.

It will also examine claims around information allegedly passed to the security forces by a state agent known as Kevin Fulton in the months prior to the Omagh attack.

The inquiry will also look at intelligence said to have been obtained by the UK Government’s Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) from alleged vehicle and telephone monitoring of dissident republicans involved in the planning, preparation and conduct of the Omagh bombing and other earlier attacks.

The subsequent analysis and handling of the GCHQ intelligence by the state authorities will also be investigated.

The inquiry will also examine the extent and adequacy of steps taken by UK state authorities to track and analyse the mobile telephone usage by those suspected to be involved in dissident republican terror attacks before the Omagh bombing and whether that data may have aided efforts to disrupt the atrocity in Omagh.

Inquiry chair Lord Turnbull said he was confident the terms of reference would allow him to conduct a “thorough and robust investigation”.

“The first thing to stress is that the inquiry is an entirely independent body,” he said.

In our view, one inquiry is optimal, two separate inquiries to me doesn't make senseMicheal Martin, Ireland's deputy premier

“I and my team will decide which are the relevant and important issues to explore and which witnesses will be called. We will do so in a manner which is entirely free of influence from the Government, or any of the United Kingdom authorities and agencies.

“The inquiry is established under the provisions of the Inquiries Act of 2005 which means that I will have the power to require the production of documents and the attendance of witnesses. I shall make use of those powers to any extent necessary.”

Lord Turnbull said the voice of the victims would be heard.

“Whilst I have not yet defined the exact procedure the inquiry will follow, it is my intention to invite families and survivors to commemorative hearings in Omagh at some point this year, so I can hear directly from those most affected by the bombing,” he said.

“I recognise that for some, however, revisiting events of the past would be too traumatic and that they may have no wish to return to such a difficult time in their lives and the lives of their own loved ones. I will fully respect that view, and the inquiry will recognise your privacy if this is your wish.”

The first phase of the inquiry will involve gathering information and materials.

The second phase will be the evidential hearings and Lord Turnbull said he intended for those to be held in public and broadcast live, unless it was necessary in the public interest for reasons of national security that they are held in private.

The chairman acknowledged it could take some time before he was in a position to produce a final report and said he would consider whether to issue an interim report ahead of the inquiry’s conclusion.


Tanaiste Micheal Martin during a visit to Ulster University in Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)

Mr Heaton-Harris reiterated his call for the Irish government to set up its own inquiry.

“I urge the Irish Government to now explain what consideration it has given to the setting up of an investigation in Ireland to discharge its obligations under article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, in line with the clear direction of the High Court,” he said.

However, speaking during his visit to Ulster University in Belfast, Mr Martin questioned the merit of having two separate inquiries.

He also denied that his government had not done enough to pursue those responsible for Troubles crimes.

“There is no amnesty in the Republic and there never has been an amnesty given in the Republic,” he said in clear reference to the UK’s contentious legacy laws.

“The Gardai and the Director of Public Prosecutions are independent of government.

“No direction has ever been given to either not to pursue cases that arose from the Troubles and not to prosecute, those are the facts.

“In respect of in and around Omagh, people were convicted in the Republic and imprisoned.

“More broadly speaking, in terms of the inquiry, I haven’t seen the terms of reference, we have been seeking the terms of reference for quite some time so that we could then respond.

“We have made it very clear that we would be fully co-operative with any such inquiry.

I have always supported a public inquiry when it comes to Omagh
First Minister Michelle O'Neill

“In our view, one inquiry is optimal, two separate inquiries to me doesn’t make sense because there would be clear overlap and duplication and maybe crossing each other.

“We have mechanisms, we have changed the law in the Republic on a number of occasions to facilitate the provision of information that the Republic may have in respect of certain crimes.”

Mr Martin added: “Our view is, we’ll see the terms of reference and then we’ll work to ensure that we contribute to that inquiry.”

Stormont’s leaders were also asked about the probe on a visit to Limavady on Wednesday morning.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill said: “I have always supported a public inquiry when it comes to Omagh.

“I think that is really important that we allow those families to get to the truth, that they get to the truth that they have been campaigning for many, many years.”

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said: “We have discussed with the Irish government issues related to legacy.

“The Taoiseach (Leo Varadkar) was in Northern Ireland just a couple of weeks ago and I took the opportunity to urge full co-operation and collaboration with all public inquiries and investigations.”
UK
Future of four-day week in limbo


Ellie Ames 21 February 2024
Image: Sinseeho / Shutterstock.com


South Cambridgeshire councillors have been advised to continue the authority’s four-day week trial until the Government offers more detail on plans to ‘disincentivise’ the practice.

Ministers recently consulted on the use of ‘financial levers’ to discourage local authorities from operating a four-day working week for full pay.

South Cambridgeshire District Council’s trial of the shortened working week had been due to end in March, with the authority set to consult on becoming a permanent four-day week employer soon after.

However, the council has said today that its consultation ‘cannot go ahead’ until it understands the implications of the Government’s proposed changes, and a new report to councillors recommends that the trial should continue until ministers provide further details.

The trial began for desk-based staff last January, and for waste operatives in September.

The new report sets out how the trial has seen £434,000 less spent on agency staff after the council recruited to 10 roles that it had previously struggled to fill.

However, South Cambridgeshire’s Conservative group noted that the savings delivered through reduced use of agency staff are ‘miles off’ the previously projected £776,000.

The council report also shows that extra costs involved with moving to a four-day waste collection service bring the net saving down to £316,000.

The report recommends that weekly hours worked by desk-based staff are increased from 29.6 to 32, in line with the working pattern that has been drawn out for waste service operatives.

This means all staff will be working 86.5%, rather than 80%, of full-time hours.

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