Coincidentally on the 12th October 2015 - the day we paid our visit to No 10 Downing Street, Teresa May announced that our campaign had succeeded in securing lifelong pensions for the widows of police officers and firefighters killed on duty - if they were unmarried and not cohabiting on or before April 1st 2015.

Coincidentally the then Prime Minister David Cameron, the then Policing Minister Mike Penning and Steve Brine PPS to the Policing Minister - all had constituents that would benefit from the changes.

We were also told on that day that there would be no parity with the RUC widows in Northern Ireland and lifelong pensions for all police widows, as they were different - they had had 'The Troubles'.

This on what was coincidentally the 31st anniversary of the attack on Margaret Thatcher and her government in Brighton.

Coincidentally police officer Jonathan Woods died of cancer in 2015 - 31 years after he was exposed to asbestos while working at the scene of the Grand Hotel attack.

Five people were killed and 39 injured in the IRA explosion on October 12, 1984.

Coincidentally this conversation - outlining how different it was to be a RUC officer's widow - was taking place in a room off Westminster Hall just metres away from where an IRA bomb went off in 1974.

Coincidentally in the same year 21 people died and 182 people were injured in the Birmingham pub bombings 9 miles from where I grew up.

PC Keith Palmer was killed by a terrorist on March 22nd last year; he gave his life as some members of parliament were mercifully safely behind locked doors and a senior police officer sheltered in his locked car.

Coincidentally a week earlier a group of us were in parliament to attend an adjournment debate.

As I write, the threat of terrorist attack here on the mainland is categorised as being 'severe' meaning that an attack is highly likely; coincidentally following a terrorist attack on police officers in Belgium in 2015, the threat level of a possible terrorist attack on police officers here was elevated to 'severe'.

The service of police officers in England and Wales has been measured against that of an RUC officer and found wanting; coincidentally the government has also measured their service against that of armed forces personnel and once again apparently, the risks that they face on a daily basis don't measure up.

The Home Secretary has said that lifelong pensions for all police widows would result in further cuts to police budgets; coincidentally this is likely to isolate us further from the police family as they fear justice for us would mean financial penalty for them.

The government's refusal to grant us parity with the RUC widows is actually all about the money.

Lest we forget.

Best wishes as always,

Cathryn

CathrynHall@outlook.com