NEW DELAYS PROMPTS FURY IN SPYCOPS INQUIRY
Today, the Undercover Policing Inquiry announced that the third set of 'Tranche 1' (1968- 1982) evidence hearings will be postponed for many months.
These hearings, looking at the managers of the spycops units, were due to take place

in October 2021. The only reason provided is that a single new core participant in the Inquiry is going to require too much additional work.
Non State Core Participants in the Inquiry, people who were targeted by the disgraced undercover units, are outraged by yet another delay.

‘Jessica’, one of the women targeted for a relationship, said:"This farcical reason is another slap in the face. Yet again we have a high handed decision that impacts all of us, but they don’t care; this mismanagement just prolongs all our pain.

Just what have they been doing the last six years? They need to stop messing around and release the files to us." The announcement comes on the back of recent news that the Inquiry has cost the public £36 million so far,

and that the final bill may be over £100 million. Significantly, the delayed set of hearings would explore who made the decisions about who was targetted for this intrusive abusive political policing, who knew about the sexual relationships of the undercover officers .

and who knew about the theft of identities of dead children. The Non State Core Participants also express their exhaustion at how long this has been drawn out. This Inquiry was originally due to report in 2018 but many important evidence hearings are yet to be scheduled.

Core Participants fear that it may take another five years before the final report is published.
Helen Steel, Core Participant, points at police demands for persuasive secrecy as exacerbating the delays: "It is now more than 10 years since campaigners and whistleblowers

exposed the oppressive, sexist and racist actions of these undercover political policing units. This Public Inquiry was supposed to open to public scrutiny the full extent of secret political policing in the UK, but instead the police have sought secrecy at every turn,

and the Inquiry has colluded with this." "The huge cost and delays to the Inquiry so far are all a result of an obsessive culture of secrecy. Every document is being scrutinised by at least eight pairs of police or state eyes before it can be released to the public.

It doesn't take eight pairs of eyes and endless argument to redact names for privacy. These documents relate to events 40-50 years ago, there is no need for this level of secrecy - this is a cover up to reduce political embarrassment for the police and the government."

The real cost is to those spied upon and to the public's right to know the truth about these political spying operations. Tom Fowler, Core Participant, adds:
"The one area in which the Inquiry has truly excelled has been at delay.

Even the most casual observer will recognise this as just another cynical manoeuvre by an establishment institution who are well aware that justice delayed is justice denied."

Campaigners believe that spurious grounds of national security are being used to protect the police from public scrutiny over unacceptable behaviour