Yesterday 26th January the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) were present at a round table meeting with the following organisations: National Association of Retired Police Officers, Scottish Police Federation, Police Federation of Northern Ireland and the Police Superintendents’ Associations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Our campaign was on the agenda as planned and it was confirmed that that ‘the various staff associations are united in their desired outcome and approach’. This in itself is an important development as this represents a co-ordinated approach rather than a singular organisation working with the promised ‘support’ of a range of others. Importantly it was reiterated by PFEW that our campaign’s message is clear in that no widow should be left behind – from day one this campaign has been seeking lifelong pensions for all police widows. We are as you will remember, seeking parity with the RUC widows in Northern Ireland. Members of PFEW have cause to visit parliament and the Home Office on a regular basis and our campaign has been added to a number of formal agendas. The Scottish Government are able to make changes to police pensions in Scotland, in the same way as Northern Ireland chose to do in the case of the RUC widows’pensions; our supporters that are Scottish constituents you know what you must do! Too often during the last widows’ pension campaign people’s hopes were raised during discussions to be horribly dashed further down the line. We have with us a number of COPS members, veterans of that campaign that have bravely stepped forward to add their voices to ours. I am committed to a no-nonsense approach to updating you on progress - so I will be aware of some meetings taking place that I will not inform you about until the results are known. With the election just 99 days away it is crucial that we are unrelenting in our pressure upon the government; please be assured that in between my updates to you - though the campaign may have the appearance of a swan - calm and serene with little happening on the surface, there are people paddling furiously beneath the water on your behalf. 99 days to go – let’s make them count. P.S. The petition itself is a bit like a lame duck at the moment - not serene just floundering; anything that you can do to persuade others to sign will be a great help. Cathryn