Summary
We’re going to close this live blog down now. Thanks for reading and commenting. Here’s a summary of the day’s political news:
The three candidates to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as Scottish first minister and SNP leader were officially announced. They are the Scottish health secretary Humza Yousaf, the country’s finance secretary Kate Forbes, and the former community safety minister Ash Regan.
Regan launched her leadership campaign with an attempt to pitch herself as the unity candidate for the independence movement. “In recent years, the wider yes movement has become marginalised in the fight for independence. If elected, I intend to change that,” she told the Herald.
A new post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland appeared to be close at hand, with Conservative MPs being ordered to be in parliament on Monday. The prime minister Rishi Sunak was said to have held a “positive” call over the Northern Ireland Protocol with the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen.
Sir Bernard Ingham, the longstanding press secretary to Margaret Thatcher, died after a short illness, his family said. They said the former reporter, who was 90, died with his relatives around him on Friday lunchtime.
MPs observed a minute’s silence in the Commons chamber to mark a year since the invasion of Ukraine began. Proceedings were halted at 11am during a Friday sitting, when a small group of backbench MPs usually attend to consider private member’s bills.
Stormont leaders have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the PSNI chief constable Simon Byrne after the shooting of a senior detective.
Det Ch Insp John Caldwell remains critically ill in hospital and heavily sedated after the attack at a sports centre in Omagh on Wednesday. Four men have been arrested in Co Tyrone in the attempted murder investigation.
The chief constable said he had spoken to Caldwell’s wife and son, who he said have been heavily affected by the incident, adding that they want to pass on their thanks both to first aiders at the scene, and for the outpouring of support across the community.
Sinn Féin’s vice-president Michelle O’Neill, the DUP’s leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, and Alliance’s deputy leader Stephen Farry, as well as the UUP leader Doug Beattie and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood met with Byrne at police headquarters in Belfast on Friday morning.
They then took part in a joint press conference with Byrne, who hailed the importance of the act of political unity.
We echo our thanks because it has rippled through the organisation about how important it is that we’re joined by the political leaders today at this unique time to show that we stand together and call out this outrage for what it is.
