The leader of the Welsh Conservatives has said he cannot support the UK Government's timing of planned cuts to tax credits.

Andrew RT Davies agrees with the principle behind the changes but says they should be "phased in".
He spoke to BBC Wales before the House of Lords voted to delay tax credit cuts, having decided against scrapping the changes entirely on Monday evening.
Mr Davies said the government "must get the timing right".
He told BBC Wales: "Reforming the benefits system is of paramount importance but it must be executed correctly."
The government needs a "taper rate" to bring tax credits down gradually, he added, urging Chancellor George Osborne to introduce one.
"Tax credits are an expensive luxury that we cannot afford but - as hardworking families feel the benefits of the UK government's support - we must get the timing right"," Mr Davies said.
Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said it is "appalling" Mr Davies has waited until now to speak out on the proposed tax credit cuts, which would start from April.
"Liberal Democrats in the coalition government stopped the Tories introducing these plans and we will continue to do all we can to stop families in Wales being hit by this policy," she said.
Peers voted 307 votes to 277 to pause the cuts until an independent study of their impact is carried out, in what is a major blow to the UK Government.
The House of Lords also voted to compensate those affected in full.
Tax credits are a series of benefits introduced by the last Labour government to help low-paid families.
There are two types: Working Tax Credits, for those in work, and Child Tax Credit, for those with children.


Imagine having a virtual "tennis coach" that knows exactly where your racquet hits the ball.

It counts forehands and backhands, serves and smashes. And when play is finished, the coach compares your stats with existing tennis data that it has easily to hand.
But this coach is not kitted out with tracksuit and trainers. Rather it relies on sensors and chips.
It sounds futuristic but technology like this is already available, embedded in one of the newer tennis racquets on the market - the Babolat Play Pure Drive.
Packed with sensors detecting string vibration and movement, the device works with a smartphone (over Bluetooth) or plugs into a computer (via USB). The company says it is the first connected racquet in the world.
"We integrated sensors inside the handle of the racquet, but it does not change the specification. And these sensors will analyse your tennis game, so your swing - your motion - and all this information will be collected by the racquet," Gael Moureaux, tennis racquets products manager at Babolat's HQ in the French city of Lyon, tells the BBC.
He adds: "During the development process of the racquet, we did a lot of lab tests with a lot of players around the world to make sure the data is accurate and to have the right data for the player."
Babolat's take on personal sporting analytics has the potential to greatly impact professional tennis.
That is because it is the first company to put a connected racquet through the International Tennis Federation (ITF) approval process.
The ITF, aware of the growing influx of hi-tech equipment into the sport, has set up a programme called Player Analysis Technology (PAT)  to regulate  such "virtual coaches" as the Babolat racquet.
It defines PAT items as being "any equipment that collects, stores, transmits, analyses or communicates information on player performance, and may be a standalone device or incorporated within existing equipment".
Successful approval from the ITF would mean that top players could use the French racquet in Grand Slam tournaments such as the French Open this spring at Roland Garos in Paris.
But why is an approval process needed at all?
A quick delve into tennis history shows technology consistently at the heart of the game, and innovation has generally moved at a quicker pace than the game's regulators can keep up with.
Over the past 50 years, wooden racquets were replaced by metal, then carbon fibre mixed with other materials, and now computer-connected models.
This time round the governing body wants to be calling the shots on where and how innovation can be used, as in the past it has found itself having to ban some products already on the market and in use, such as the so-called "spaghetti-strung" racquets (with double stringing).
Since the profound impact of the metal racquet, testing has been carried out with the idea of ensuring every player has a fair chance of winning - with approved equipment.
Machines at the ITF's high-tech lab at Roehampton, south-west London, strenuously test racquets and balls for approval on the court.
"One of the biggest revolutions in tennis was when a gentleman called Howard Head discovered you could make racquets with bigger faces and larger frames using a material other than wood," says Stuart Miller, of the ITF.
Players using metal racquets would have the advantage over equally skilled opponents using wooden frames.
This was because a metal racquet enabled the player to have a greater hitting area. They would be more likely to hit the ball and less likely to hit it on the frame.
"Eventually racquets became lighter and could be swung faster, generating the kind of serve speeds and spins that we're seeing in today's game," adds Mr Miller.
"That was a fundamental shift, and no matter how much some people would like to think that the wooden racquet has a place in tennis today, I'm afraid there's no going back now."
It is this delicate balance between tradition and technology that remains particularly relevant to the tennis world.
In conjunction with its PAT approval programme, the ITF has also brought in a new rule - Rule 31 - to reflect the growing use of connected equipment, and its possible role in tournament play.
The ITF's existing rules currently ban touchline coaching, and to now prevent hi-tech "coaching" - in this case players potentially studying their strokeplay data between games - the new regulation has appeared.
It states that a "player may not have access to data collected by Player Analysis Technology during play, except when play is suspended and coaching is permitted".
But despite the innovations coming thick and fast, one trainer does not think he is in danger of being upstaged by a smart racquet.
"I think that it's great for feedback but you still need someone to analyse it. At the end of the day it's the practice and the ability of someone that makes the player, not necessarily the equipment in their hand," says Nik Snapes, racquets manager and tennis pro at Roehampton Club.
With the player analytics revolution come the consequences that might arise from using this technology.
Approved devices need to be secure and protected against unauthorised access, to prevent "sporting espionage'" whereby data could be stolen. Knowing when an opponent's right hand gets tired during the second set would be a huge advantage.
Player analytics, like the metal racquet, is here to stay.
But though it will have a huge impact on the evolution of tennis, the game should remain as popular as ever - provided players have the opportunity to compete on skill and strategy alone.


Championship leaders Brighton have completed the permanent signing of striker Glenn Murray from Bournemouth for an undisclosed fee.

The 33-year-old has scored 15 goals in 28 games since rejoining the Seagulls on a season-long loan last summer.
He has now agreed a two-and-a-half-year deal at the Amex Stadium.
Murray joined the Cherries for £4m in September 2015, but was restricted to just seven starts for the Premier League club last season.
He previously scored 56 goals for Brighton between January 2008 and May 2011 before moving to Crystal Palace on a free transfer.
Meanwhile, goalkeeper Christian Walton has been recalled from a loan spell at Luton to cover for David Stockdale while Niki Maenpaa recovers from a shoulder injury.
The 21-year-old made 33 appearances during his six-month stay with the Hatters.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page or visit our Premier League tracker here.


It was an important episode for The Voice Kids on Saturday, with the judges filling the last few places in their teams, from the final batch of Blind Auditions.

Will had the most acts to find, with four spots left to fill on his team, while Pixie needed to be the most picky, with just two spaces left.
The performances were as strong as ever, and all three judges now have 12 singers each.
But they don't get to enjoy having all those acts for long - next week we'll see the battles round, where the judges have to trim their teams down to just four singers each.
So here's how the complete teams are looking, for now...
Will.i.am seems pretty happy with his line-up, saying that his contestants are "all superstars".
His youngest act is 10-year-old Lil' T from Leicester, who wowed the judges with 'Shutdown' by Skepta.
Will pressed his button for him within a few seconds, and even jumped up on stage to convince him to pick him as his coach.
He also bagged 13-year-old Francesca from Buckinghamshire, and 14-year-old Adam from County Clare who all three judges wanted.
His other acts are: Brooke from Milton Keynes, Perry from Norwich, Jake from Wigan, Sara from Nottingham, Dominiyka from Cambridgeshire, Victoria from Bath, Marby from Kildare, Ireland, Gina from London, and Cole from Leeds.
Pixie says she's 'over the moon' with her team, saying every one of her acts are "amazing".
She says she's happy to have "a little bit of everything", with lots of different styles represented in her group:
From Zena and Lewis who are pop performers like Pixie herself, to Sophie who performed Prince's classic anthem 'Purple Rain', and Amaria and Chi who have a soulful style.
And Pixie even has a stage performer on her team - Miriam has already performed on the West End in three different musicals!
Pixie also has the youngest contestant, Leah, who's just eight-years-old, and sang a song from her favourite Disney film - The Little Mermaid.
Pixie's other acts are: Jess from Essex, Riccardo from Rochdale, Devon from Dublin, Erin from North Yorkshire and Tabi from Lincolnshire.
As a rock star himself, it's not surprising that Danny's team includes most of the rock acts which made it through the Blind Auditions.
Jack from Norwich wowed all of the judges with 'Freefallin'' by John Mayer, but picked Danny as his judge after he jumped up on stage, handed him his own guitar, and joined him performing 'Sweet Child O'Mine'.
While Courtney from Hartlepool appeared shy at first, but transformed into a rock star when she started singing.
Erin L from Essex was brave enough to pick one of Danny's own songs - 'All About You' - and left him seriously impressed with her twist on his song.
Danny's other acts are: Tilly from Sussex, Jude from Port Talbot, Jessica R from Essex, Hayley from Berkshire, Juno from London, Nathan from Larne in Ireland, Millianna from Gloucester, Hollie from Kent, and Eboni from Birmingham.
Next comes the painful process of cutting two thirds of the acts!
Three singers will now compete for just one spot, because each coach can only take four singers through to the semi final.


Michael Jackson's brother Jermaine has called for an end to the Jackson family feud over the late pop star's estate.

"After much soul-searching, it is clearly time for us to live by Michael's words about love not war," wrote Jermaine, in a statement.
Jermaine also withdrew his support for a leaked letter which calls on executors of the estate to resign.
On Thursday his mother, Katherine, was reinstated as guardian of Michael's children along with his cousin, TJ.
Days earlier, TJ became a temporary guardian for the three children amid reports Katherine, 82, was missing.
Michael's siblings, Jermaine, Randy and Janet, are understood to have driven to the Jackson home and insisted they leave with Michael's three children.
Police were called following a "minor scuffle".
"Mistakes have been made and irrational things have been said on both sides in a highly charged emotional environment," Jermaine Jackson wrote in his statement.
"It is time for us all to draw a line in the sand and move towards peace, co-operation, love and healing."
'Mutual suspicions'
Katherine Jackson was on a 10-day spa trip to Arizona, when speculation arose about her whereabouts and her health.
Prince Michael, 15, Paris, 14, and 10-year-old Prince Michael II (also called Blanket) have lived with the singer's mother since his death in 2009.
Lawyers for the estate this week confirmed a number of unnamed relatives have been barred from visiting the Jackson family home.
Writing in his statement about the confrontation at the Jackson family home on 23 July, Jermaine said "it was clear that mutual suspicions had allowed events to spiral out of control".
"I regret that events were ever allowed to reach such a stage," he wrote. "I regret any distress caused to Prince, Paris and Blanket. That was never, ever the intention of myself, Janet, Rebbie or Randy."
Michael Jackson's will left nothing to his siblings when he died aged 50 of an overdose of the anaesthetic propofol in June 2009.
'Overwhelmed'
Janet, Randy, Jermaine and Rebbie are all understood to have signed a letter, which was leaked to the press, alleging the will was a fake and calling on executors of the estate to resign.
The letter states the family was too overwhelmed at the time of the singer's death to meaningfully challenge the will that gave only Katherine Jackson and Michael's three children a stake in the estate.
The estate has denied the accusations, saying they are "saddened" by "false and defamatory accusations".
Any legal challenge to the will should have been filed within four months of the will's acceptance in November 2009.


Lincoln city centre has become the first place in the UK to ban legal highs.

The local council there voted to back proposals to stop people from using them in public places.
Sam Barstow from City of Lincoln Council said: "This is a part of a whole raft of measures that include further education, increasing our intelligence around legal highs and the issues that are associated with them."
But not everyone is happy.
Jamie, who has sent a petition to the Prime Minister asking for a clamp down on legal highs in the UK, told Newsbeat more should be done.
He thinks the rules should go further and wants head shops, which sell legal highs, to be closed down.
"It's just the advertising it gets. You walk down the high street and there's 10-year-old kids walking down the street and there's a big pipe in a shop window. What message does that send out?"
The reason the government struggle to make legal highs illegal is because as soon as they ban one substance a few chemicals are changed and it is rebranded as a whole new product.
Lincoln's new rules are being suggested as a replacement of Designated Public Place Orders, which prevent alcohol consumption under certain circumstances.
"You wouldn't have noticed [legal high use in the city] five years ago," said Jamie.
"But more recently you can see people just staggering up and down the high street almost like zombies - absolutely off their face."
He took legal highs once but says they have had a much worse affect on some of his friends.
"A few people I did know have carried on doing it and I've watched them become homeless and they look nothing like they used to.
"They're just staggering up the high street, they sleep on the streets now, under bridges."
Sam Barstow, Lincoln's service manager for public protection and anti-social behaviour, said: "The main difference between the existing powers and this new proposal is that it gives us the ability to tackle on-street alcohol consumption and the use of so-called legal highs.
"The Designated Public Place Order required police to be satisfied consumption of the alcohol would lead to anti-social behaviour, which led to difficulties in enforcement.
"The new order would be a complete ban on consuming both alcohol and legal highs in the city centre."
Legal highs are substances which produce the same, or similar effects, to drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy, but are not controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
In many cases, they are designed to mimic class A drugs, but are structurally different enough to avoid being classified as illegal substances, so it is legal to possess and use them.
The latest figures from the Centre for Social Justice (CJS) show the number of police incidents involving legal highs have increased in many parts of England since 2010.
The number of incidents soared across 16 police forces that responded to a freedom of information request by the think-tank.
Of those asked, Lincolnshire police recorded the highest rate of police incidents involving legal highs in 2014 with 820.
The second highest was South Yorkshire with 465 and West Yorkshire's 324 was third highest.
The CSJ has called for a robust response from the Government, including new police powers to close shops that persist in selling legal highs.
It also claims the number of deaths associated with the use of legal highs increased from 12 in 2009 to 97 in 2012 in England and that the UK has the highest number of legal highs users amongst young people in Europe.
"As well as posing worrying health risks, these figures suggest legal highs are placing an increasing burden on public services," said senior CSJ researcher Rupert Oldham-Reid.
"It is too easy for people to walk into high street shops and buy these drugs - many of them as dangerous as class A substances.
"If we want to start responding to the problems caused by 'legal highs' we need to clamp down on those making a living out of selling them."
The CSJ wants the Government to implement legislation similar to a scheme run in Ireland, where authorities slashed the number of 'head shops' from more than 100 to less than 10.
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Two members of staff have been threatened with a knife during an attempted robbery at a post office in Clarkston in East Renfrewshire.

Officers were called to the Premier Store in Busby Road at about 13:40.
Police said a man brandishing a knife threatened two male members of staff but fled empty-handed.
One of the men sustained a slight injury but did not require treatment. Officers were checking CCTV and inquiries are continuing.
The suspect was described as a white Scottish man, over 6ft in height and was wearing a woollen hat and carrying a black bag.


An opencast coal site in the Neath Valley is being mothballed for three years with the loss of 70 jobs.

Celtic Energy is closing the Selar site, near Glynneath, next March blaming a 40% fall in the world price of coal.
It said it could not keep the site running along with Nant Helen and the soon-to-be expanded East Pit.
Some of the jobs could go to these sites but most staff expected to take voluntary redundancy.
Will Watson, chief executive of Celtic Energy, said: "We very much regret the impact this will have on our workforce and their families but we are hopeful that the inevitable redundancies required can mostly be achieved on a voluntary basis and we are looking at all possibilities for mitigating the impact by re-allocating people to other sites wherever possible.
"Discussions will also be held with local authorities and the Welsh government to put in place as much support as possible for those affected and to manage the regulatory implications of a temporary cessation of coaling at one of our sites."


A young mother was forced to take her dead child on a bus so her abusive boyfriend could frame her for killing her own baby, a jury has heard.

Rosalin Baker, 25, told the Old Bailey Jeffrey Wiltshire threatened her with a knife after she found their daughter Imani "cold" and "still" in their bed.
She said the 52-year-old then instructed her to take the child from their Newham flat to her sister's home.
The pair deny murder and causing or allowing the death of their child.
Ms Baker told the jury she "started screaming" when she found the 16-week-old "cold" and "still", and with "a big black eye" in their bed on 28 September last year.
"The first thing I thought was he's done something to her... I thought she was dead," she said.
Ms Baker told the jury she "went to call an ambulance and the police" but her boyfriend "snatched the phone out of my hand".
"He said I've got to do what he says or he will hurt me or my family," and instructed her to take the child to her sister's house in Stratford, or to her mother's in Colchester, the court heard.
She said he then "pushed me on the bed and said 'it's all your fault. I told you to give her up for adoption'".
The court heard Mr Wiltshire kissed Ms Baker as she boarded the bus to Stratford, which she said she did not want nor expect.
She told the jury she then began to realise that "he tried to frame me for killing my own baby" as the journey progressed.
She said she was "in a lot of shock" and felt "devastated" as she feared people would "think it's me".
The trial continues.


Waterstones, the UK's leading bookshop chain, is on the defensive after going incognito at some of its newer stores.

The firm has opened three shops that do not feature its distinctive branding, prompting accusations of deception.
They are Southwold Books in Suffolk, The Rye Bookshop in East Sussex and Harpenden Books in Hertfordshire.
But Waterstones' chief executive, James Daunt, told the BBC the move was justified, saying he wanted the shops to have a more independent feel.
The policy was quietly introduced in mid-2014, when Southwold Books was launched as "a quintessentially local bookshop".
The Rye Bookshop followed a year later, while Harpenden Books opened in April 2016.
No-one paid much attention at first, but now Waterstones is under fire for apparently masquerading as the little guy in a world of increasingly homogenised High Streets.
As a result, Mr Daunt took to the airwaves to argue the company's case on the BBC's Today programme.
He said that all three of the shops in question were on small High Streets that did not have an independent book store.
"We're coming into quite sensitive High Streets, ones predominantly with independent retailers on them, and we wish to behave as they do," he said.
By giving his small stores a more independent feel, he said he hoped to change the way in which staff worked.
"Part of the reason that we do it is to convince our own booksellers that they have the autonomy that they do have," he added.
"I think I have always acted and worked as an independent book seller and I would love for everyone who works for me does so likewise."


A new study of prehistoric bones discovered at Stonehenge has found around half belonged to women.

In 2008 archaeologists first explored the site in Wiltshire examining the cremated remains of some 200 adults.
Researchers said their findings showed a "surprising degree of gender equality" despite artists portraying prehistoric man as in charge of the site "with barely a woman in sight".
The findings are reported in the magazine British Archaeology.
The study showed the findings are important because burial at Stonehenge was likely to have been reserved for selected people of higher status.
It also contrasts with the evidence from older Neolithic tombs in southern Britain, with their higher ratios of adult males to females.
Christie Willis, a PhD student at University College London and an expert on human remains, sorted through some 45kg (99lbs) of bone fragments.
Her task was to identify which part of the skeleton each fragment came from and to then establish the age and sex of the remains.
She identified 14 females and nine males - some of them children.
Ms Willis said the samples had originally been place in a series of Aubrey Holes around the periphery of the site - which were originally excavated in the 1920s by William Hawley.
"These were dug up and reburied in Aubrey Hole seven with the hope that one day there would be a breakthrough to allow them to be analysed.
"Because of this the fragments have become co-mingled - or mixed up - which is why the work has taken so long."
The fragments were also sent to universities in Oxford and Glasgow to be radiocarbon-dated.
Researchers at Teeside University also looked at how hot the cremation fires were, and how long the bones were in there for.


Police have arrested a man they believe held a family and housekeeper hostage in their Washington DC home before killing them.

Daron Dylon Wint, 34, who had previously worked for the victims' family business, was detained late Thursday in the US capital.
He is accused of killing the four victims and setting the house on fire.
Police refused to confirm reports Mr Wint was identified by DNA from the crust of a pizza delivered to the home.
Savvas Savopoulos, 46, chief executive of American Iron Works, was found dead in his family's home in Woodley Park, northwest Washington, just blocks away from the home of Vice-President Joe Biden.
Police discovered his body alongside those of his wife Amy, 47, his 10-year-old son Philip and housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa, an El Salvador national.
A week after the gruesome discovery, investigators have provided few details in a case that has shocked the city and its high-profile social circles.
There have been media reports of a $40,000 cash drop being made to the home hours before the incident, and a text message from Mrs Savopoulos telling a member of staff not to come into work that same day.
The Washington Post reported that a delivery order was placed with a local pizza company while the family was being held hostage and DNA found on a crust has been matched to Mr Wint.
Police officials would not confirm or deny this report to the BBC.


John Lewis's Nottingham store is to remain closed longer than expected after 80,000 litres of hot water leaked from a ruptured heating pipe.

Torrents of water brought down a suspended ceiling and damaged stock in the Victoria Centre store at about 22:40 BST on Tuesday.
Managers had hoped for a weekend reopening but it is now closed "until further notice".
Staff have been helping with the clean-up operation.
Water poured through from a rooftop room, leaving the top floor under three inches of water and stock "significantly" damaged.
A spokeswoman said: "Our teams are working around the clock to get the shop open as quickly as possible and we're sorry for the inconvenience this has caused to our customers."


It's over to the people to decide what the future holds for Northern Ireland and its politics.

But with voters being asked to go to the polls for a second assembly election in just 10 months, and with this campaign having been a divisive one, how will people react on Thursday?
Voter turnout in assembly elections has slid steadily since 1998, when about 70% of the eligible electorate went to the ballot box.
At last year's assembly election, turnout was down more than 15%  on the figure from 18 years earlier.
So, has setback and scandal at Stormont put people off politics, or has it spurred them on to have their say?
BBC News NI spoke to two people with strongly differing views on voting.
The right to vote has been hard won for many people, Feliticy McKee says, and she believes every single ballot paper will have a significance when counting begins on Friday.
"Our very peace process was established through democracy and the Good Friday Agreement - I vote simply because of that," she explains.
"The main success that we have from our democracy is the peace process - it may not be perfect, but these things take time.
"And also, within Northern Ireland there have been people who have fought for my very right to vote."
Even for those turned off by the main parties, the variety of candidates should serve up something to support for most people, including those desperate for an alternative.
But she adds that many non-voters are not engaged in the political process in any way, and more must be done encourage them to at least become "involved in protests or other forms of resistance".
Voter apathy "does tend to appear in more peaceful places", Felicity says, but recent results have shown that change is possible.
"If you look at Brexit and Trump, there can be changes within democracy and within the system that some non-voters are so upset about.
"This election could change things, considering how everyone's reacted to the RHI scandal - there's a huge feeling in the air of wanting to change.
"Democracy can quite literally come down to a handful of votes in some constituencies, so every vote matters."
Stephen Elliott describes himself as a "member of a positive non-voters' fraternity", and has adopted a firm stance against making a ballot paper.
That is because he sees Northern Ireland's political system as a "failure", and points to the falling turnout in each of the past five elections as evidence that others feel the same way.
"There isn't an individual candidate or a party that has demonstrated they can govern Northern Ireland, and that is the reason that people, like myself, turn away from this," he says.
"I'm not going to endorse anyone by voting for them because they're not worthy of my vote.
"I agree that the right to vote is a very important privilege and it has been long and hard-fought for.
"But that does not mean that there should be a demand or an entitlement on the part of the political class for us to go out and support them.
"There is an arrogance in the political class that we own them a duty to employ them - we're better off without them at the moment."
Describing non-voters as pessimistic, Stephen says, will not encourage them to participate in the democratic process.
"It sounds to me as if it's a desperate act to frighten or intimidate people into going to vote.
"That will not work - positive non-voting is the answer."
A battle between the DUP's Peter Weir and his suspended party colleague Jonathan Bell will be the key one to watch in the election, according to a bookmaker.
Mr Bell is standing as an independent in Strangford after he made extraordinary allegations against DUP advisers and his party leader Arlene Foster over their role in the RHI scandal in a BBC interview in December.
He is pitted against three DUP ministers, including Mr Weir, who is standing in Strangford after switching to the constituency from neighbouring North Down.
And Christopher Bickerstaff, a trader at A McLean Bookmakers, said there is potential for a shock.
Another intriguing contest will be between Sinn Féin and the SDLP for the fifth seat in North Belfast, Mr Bickerstaff said.
"It looks a straight fight between Nichola Mallon of the SDLP and Sinn Féin's Carál Ní Chuilín.
"The business we're seeing suggests Nichola Mallon will take the seat, although we have her priced as the outsider.
"Carál Ní Chuilín has a decent lead in first preference vote from the last election, so Nichola Mallon has a fair bit of ground to make up."
While political pollsters have been stung by some spectacular electoral upsets over the past few years, Mr Bickerstaff said bookies face added pressure to get it right.
"We have to be a bit more scientific with the way we look at it - we can lose money, whereas pollsters just come down to opinion," he explained.
"We have to take time and care before we produce our odds, and I reckon we've got a good handle on it this time.
"But it has been a very difficult election to price up with the drop from six to five seats in each constituency."
You can find a list of all candidates running for election in each constituency here.
A total of 1,254,709 will be eligible to vote in Thursday's Northern Ireland Assembly election.
That figure represents a 2.14% drop on the number of people who were on the electoral register for the last year's poll.
Of the 1,281,595 people who could have gone to the ballot box last time, 54.9% decided to cast a vote.
The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland said that 33,700 people were added to the register between 11 January and the end of the registration period in the run-up to this week's polling day.
A full constituency breakdown of the eligible electorate is available on the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland website.


A number of Derby County fans have threatened to boycott East Midlands Airport (EMA) unless it puts back a banner paid for by the club.

The poster, which was in the immigration hall, said: "We are Derby. Welcome to the East Midlands."
It was removed after Leicester City and Nottingham Forest fans accused the airport of favouring the Rams.
EMA said it had received no direct complaints and the poster was taken down after being put up "in error".
However, a petition, with about 400 names, claims Derby supporters are being "discriminated" against.
Derby County FC said it did not want to make a comment about the petition but was investigating why the banner was taken down.
Paul Topliff, who started the petition, urged Derby supporters to use alternative airports due to EMA's "clear bias" in favour of Nottingham.
He said the issue went back to when the airport briefly incorporated Nottingham into its name.
"[Forest fans] didn't object when [the airport] was going to be named Nottingham East Midlands Airport.
"We feel Derby is being done a disservice.
"I don't think its a question of being upset, it's a question of asking for equality and the right thing to be done."
Forest fan Phil Ringrose was one of those upset over the banner and said the airport should represent all three cities in the region.
East Midlands Airport has yet to comment on the petition but said it supported all the counties and "prides" itself on being at the heart of the region.
A statement said: "With regards to the recent advert in the immigration hall, it was installed in error and has now been removed."
The airport is located at Castle Donington in Leicestershire but has a Derbyshire postcode and is about 14 miles (22.5km) from Nottingham.


A South Carolina police officer charged with murder after shooting an unarmed man in the back had a prior complaint made against him about using force.

The police are re-investigating Michael Slager's use of a stun gun on Mario Givens in 2013.
Mr Slager was charged with the murder of Walter Scott, 50, after a video of Saturday's fatal shooting emerged.
The man who shot the video says he saw the two men having a scuffle on the ground before Mr Scott ran away.
Mr Slager was fired by the North Charleston police department following the murder charge.
He has been held without bail and faces up to life in prison if convicted of murder.
The video, shot by bystander Feidin Santana, shows the police officer firing multiple times as Scott runs away.
Mr Slager claimed Scott, a father of four and former Coast Guard guard, had taken his stun gun and he had shot in fear of his life.
But Mr Santana told NBC News he didn't see Scott take the stun gun and he turned over the footage after reading the police report's description of the killing.
"It wasn't like that, the way they were saying."
He added that before he starting recording, Scott and the officer were on the ground and Scott was trying to get away.
A stun gun was also at issue in the 2013 complaint Mario Givens filed against the police officer.
Mr Givens said Mr Slager had pushed into his home after coming to his door.
"Come outside or I'll 'Tase' you,'" he quoted the officer as saying, adding he then raised his arms over his head but was then stunned in the stomach.
Mr Slager was investigating a complaint against Mr Givens' brother and apparently mistook Mr Givens for his sibling.
Charges were dropped and Mr Slager was exonerated by a police investigation into the incident.
North Charleston police spokesman Spencer Pryor said the department plans to review the case to see whether its decision was correct.
Judy Scott, the mother of Walter Scott, told CNN she felt "forgiveness in my heart, even for the guy who shot and killed my son".
After video of Scott's death emerged, protesters chanted "no justice, no peace" outside the city hall on Wednesday, and they later held a candlelight vigil in honour of Scott.
They are the latest protests about police lethal force, which began after the killing of Michael Brown, a teenager in Ferguson by a police officer who was not charged for his death.
April 2015: Walter Lamer Scott, 50, is shot eight times in South Carolina as he runs away from Officer Michael Slager. Mr Scott dies at the scene. The shooting is captured on video and Mr Slager is charged with murder.
December 2014: Jerame Reid, 36, is shot dead during a routine traffic stop in New Jersey. An officer claims Mr Reid was reaching for a gun, but video footage seems to suggest he was attempting to step out of the car, hands raised.
November 2014: Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy, is shot dead in a playground by Cleveland police after a local resident reports he is pointing a gun at passers by. The gun turns out to be a toy. A grand jury will decide whether police will face charges.
August 2014: Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old, is shot dead by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. The shooting leads to protests, first in Ferguson and later nationwide. A grand jury decides not to charge Mr Wilson.
July 2014: Eric Garner, an asthma sufferer, is stopped by police in New York and placed in a chokehold after refusing to be handcuffed. He dies despite repeatedly telling officers he cannot breathe. No police are charged.
March 2014: James Boyd, an unarmed homeless man camping in Alberquerque, is shot dead by two officers. Video of the incident leads prosecutors to say the officers acted with "deliberate intention" and they are charged.
Clive Myrie: Will black Americans finally get a fair deal?
How one shooting sparked national protests
The cases where US police have faced killing charges


Rochdale have signed midfielder Matthew Lund on a two-year deal following his release by Stoke City.

The 22-year-old joined Stoke after progressing through the Crewe youth system but failed to make a first-team appearance for the Potters.
The Northern Ireland U21 international has had loan spells at Hereford, Oldham, Bristol Rovers and Southend.
Lund is the third summer signing at Spotland with Ashley Eastham and Olly Lancashire already tied down.
The signing of Lund could mean the end of Jason Kennedy's time at Rochdale with the midfielder stalling on his new contract.
"Jason knows I'm in a position where I'm looking to recruit a central midfielder this week and if I do then the situation with Jason will have evolved and taken care of itself," manager Keith Hill told the club website.


Wayne Rooney is "under-appreciated" despite being one of the 10 best British players ever, says former England striker Gary Lineker.

Everton forward Rooney, 31, scored his 200th Premier League goal in Monday's 1-1 draw at Manchester City.
He is the all-time leading scorer for both England - with 53 - and Manchester United, for whom he scored 253 times in all competitions over 13 years.
"He's been a great player for English football," said Lineker.
When asked whether former England captain Rooney was under-appreciated, Match of the Day presenter Lineker said: "He probably is. He'd be [one of Britain's] top 10 ever - he's had a marvellous career."
Lineker added Rooney - overlooked by England manager Gareth Southgate for matches against Scotland and Spain in June - has been "unfortunate" to have played most of his national career as the team's "only world-class player" after the end of the so-called 'golden generation'.
Rooney made his major tournament debut aged 18 at Euro 2004 in a squad containing Frank Lampard, John Terry, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Ashley Cole.
He scored four goals in the tournament, but broke a bone in his foot during England's quarter-final exit to hosts Portugal. England have yet to progress beyond the quarter-finals of a major tournament since Euro 1996.
"[England] went through a time of being bereft of world-class talent - it was just him," said Lineker.
"He's gone to play in tournaments, sometimes not fully fit, sometimes fit, in a team that's not really good enough, and he's suffered a little bit from that.
"Those of us who remember his early career - he was phenomenal. He did it in Portugal. We might have gone on to win that one if he hadn't [got injured], we were looking so good."
Rooney was often left out of Manchester United's starting line-up by manager Jose Mourinho last season, making 25 Premier League appearances - his fewest in a league campaign.
Lineker said the striker had "gradually slowed down" because he "worked too hard and chased back too much" earlier in his career.
"But that was for the right reasons - he's doing that because he's so honest," added Lineker.
"Everyone gets a bit under-appreciated because we are a judgemental society but it's also very tribal, football - if he's playing for Manchester United, automatically a lot of people would dislike him."
Rooney has now scored twice in two Premier League games since rejoining first club Everton in July.
Toffees team-mate Phil Jagielka, 35, said he did not understand criticism of Rooney as the striker's record was "second to none" for club and country.
"Wayne and his team-mates never doubt him, so I am not sure why people would doubt him," said Jagielka, who has made 40 England appearances.
"So far for us, in pre-season and in the league and in our brief European stint, he has been one of our best players and hopefully that will continue."
Rooney has said he is "focusing on Everton" rather than an international recall, but Jagielka believes the striker "has more goals to go for" if he is recalled by England.
However, he added: "If not, we would be delighted he gets a rest and is ready to go for us."


Belfast animal feed company Thompsons is investing £2.5m in a new heat and energy plant.

The new gas-powered plant will save up to £300,000 a year and make the company self-sufficient for energy.
It will also mean a 10% cut in the company's CO2 emissions - the equivalent of taking around 350 cars off Northern Ireland's roads.
The savings will be invested in the research and development of more efficient feed products.
The company has also signed what is known as a "prosperity agreement" with the authorities that regulate the industry.
The intention is to make the relationship between business and regulator less adversarial and more collaborative.
Businesses agree to operate above the minimum required environmental standards.
The regulator - in this case the Department of the Environment - agrees to cut red tape for companies that demonstrate compliance with environmental regulation.
Visiting Thompsons, Environment Minister Mark H Durkan said: "This is not just about reduced CO2 emissions. More nutritious animal food produced by it means less harmful emissions into the environment from farm livestock.
"Better awareness of environmental responsibilities on farms will further demonstrate that Northern Ireland is serious about creating a world-class clean, green agri-food sector."
Declan Billington of Thompsons added: "The signing of this agreement affirms Thompsons belief that improving on-farm production efficiencies through nutrition will also improve the environmental footprints of farms and will profit both rural communities and the environment as a result."
This is the third prosperity agreement signed by Northern Ireland companies.
Thompsons employs 165 workers and produces 850,000 tonnes of feed a year across all agricultural sectors.
It accounts for about 40% of the agricultural feed market in Northern Ireland.


A Cambodian property tycoon accused of assaulting a well-known actress has appeared in court after she posted a video of the attack online.

CCTV footage emerged earlier this month of an assault on the actress Ek Socheata, better known as SaSa, at a restaurant in the capital Phnom Penh.
Sok Bun, 37, returned to Cambodia from Singapore, where he had fled.
Violence against women is commonplace in Cambodia but public exposure of this attack has sparked outrage.
After his arrest at Phnom Penh's airport, Sok Bun faces charges of violence and intentionally causing injury.
On Thursday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen called for Sok Bun's arrest.
"Don't think that because you have money you can escape,'' Hun Sen said. "What you have done is intolerable."
The footage shows SaSa being dragged off a chair and on to the floor at a Japanese restaurant.
She is then kicked in the head, and when she tries to get up, she is punched and stamped on over the course of a minute.
At one point, a bodyguard draws a gun and points it at her head as the attack continues. It ends when a restaurant worker pulls the attacker away.
SaSa then obtained the video from the restaurant and posted it on her Facebook page. She has since given several interviews on national television and was still visibly badly bruised.
Earlier in the week, Sok Bun pleaded for forgiveness but a social media campaign called for his arrest.
"He pulled my hair and smashed my head against the floor," she told the Associated Press (AP) news agency. "I was in shock, I couldn't believe what was happening."
SaSa says she was protecting a friend from the advances of Mr Bun, who was at one point the head of Cambodia's estate agents' association.
Yin Sophy, Sok Bun's lawyer, was quoted in the Phnom Penh Post as saying his client had been keen to return to Cambodia to see the case resolved.
"My client has a real willingness to deal and take responsibility about this case," he said. "So he has come to solve these allegations with court directly."
If found guilty, Sok Bun could face up to five years in prison.
The newspaper reports that the bodyguard has been charged with attempted murder and remains at large. SaSa says he pulled the trigger of his gun only for it to fail to discharge.


Police Scotland have released an image of a man they want to trace in relation to a number of serious violent crimes.

A spokesman said they wanted to trace 31-year-old Henry Hanratty Stephen urgently.
He is known to have links in Aberdeen and north Aberdeenshire.
He has been described as being white, 5ft 10in tall and of medium build. He has short, brown hair and often has dark stubble.
Anyone with information should contact police.


We want to know if you would eat wonky vegetables?

Some people prefer their fruits and vegetables to be perfectly shaped but a trial by one supermarket found that lots of customers are now happy to buy lumpy, bumpy and curved vegetables.
They decided to sell wonky veg to prevent tonnes of imperfect fruit and vegetables being thrown away.
So we want to know what you think.
Thanks for all your comments - the chat page is now closed.
Yes, I would eat it because veg is veg even if it looks wonky and funny looking.
Jack, 9
I would love to eat wonky veg because they look funny and they're much better than the ones we have at school. Also it stops them going to waste and the farmers get paid for what they have grown.
Hermione, 7, Cambridgeshire
Yes, I would definitely eat wonky shaped veg as it would be more fun to eat!
Iona, 11, Edinburgh
I hate the idea of wonky and curved vegetables because how would people cut them up for their tea or dinner?
Fiona, 10, Merseyside
I would eat wonky veg because they are no different to any other veg except they are wonky.
Catriona, 8, Scotland
Yes I would as there would be less waste in the world and they look very funny.
Keira, 10, Dorset
I would, as they would taste the same (I think).
Harry, 12, Oxfordshire
Yes I would because it looks interesting and my Mummy told me all the wonky veg gets thrown away.
Sophie, 5, London
Yes because it's just normal veg that's grown in a funny shape but still tastes the same.
Billy, 7, Nottinghamshire
Yes I would eat wonky veg. It's just like ordinary veg and tastes the same.
Charlie, 5, Chesterfield
Definitely! They look really funny! I would love eating those!
Ellie, 8, Northamptonshire


The Conservative Party has retained control of Dorset County Council after winning 32 of the 46 seats.

Despite the win, party members were left in shock when the council's Tory leader Robert Gould lost his seat to the Liberal Democrats.
UKIP was left without a seat while the Liberal Democrats won 11 seats, the Green Party won two and the Labour Cooperative retained one seat.
The ruling Conservative group will meet next week to elect a new leader.
The authority previously had 45 councillors, but now has one more following a boundary review.
In 2013, the Conservatives had 27 seats, Liberal Democrats 12, while Labour took three and its "sister party" Labour and Cooperative won two. UKIP gained one seat.
Election 2017: Full results from across England
Mr Gould lost his Sherborne Town seat by 22 votes as Jon Andrews for the Liberal Democrats gained the seat with 1,493.
The local election comes amidst plans to reorganise local government in Dorset with two unitary authorities.
The authority has said it will not be revealing plans for the restructure until after the general election on 8 June but, if they go ahead, it could mean Dorset residents face another election in two years' time.
Mr Gould replaced Spencer Flower as leader in 2014.
Councillor Flower, who won Verwood for the Tories alongside his wife Toni Coombs, said overall it was a "strong performance" for the party.
"Politics is a surprise, you get occasions where you get outcomes you didn't expect. It's obviously always very disappointing when you lose a colleague but it happens and we just need to move on from there," he said.
Representing UKIP, who failed to win a seat, Robin Grey said it had been a "very bad night".
Labour's David Stokes said: "It's been a difficult night in the county as a whole but our share of the vote has increased. We're very optimistic."


Glasgow City won 3-0 at bottom side Forfar Farmington to edge a step closer to a historic 10th straight Scottish Women's Premier League title.

Two goals from Sarah Crilly and a first City goal for young midfielder Sam Kerr ensured the champions remained five points clear of Hibernian Ladies.
Hibs maintained their challenge with a 3-0 win over Celtic.
Elsewhere, Rangers Ladies won 6-0 at Aberdeen, while Stirling University prevailed 3-0 at Spartans.
Goals from Lizzie Arnot, Abigail Harrison and Rachel McLauchlan against Celtic ensured Hibernian kept their slim title hopes alive.
But with only two games left, they must beat Glasgow City at the Excelsior Stadium in a fortnight if they are to have any chance of stopping Scott Booth's side from retaining their title.
The head coach fielded a much changed team to the one which started Thursday's 1-0 Champions League defeat at Swedish side Eskilstuna United, with one eye on this week's return leg.
A number of young City youngsters got their opportunity and they didn't disappoint as City went 2-0 up inside 13 minutes as Crilly converted a Clare Shine cross and Sam Kerr finished brilliantly after a flowing move.
Booth made further changes but City's dominance continued as Crilly scored her second goal 12 minutes in to the second half after being set up by Carla Boyce.
"We are happy with the three points today," Booth said. "The girls were really professional throughout. Our younger players who took part - Hannah Coakley, Sam Kerr, Carla Boyce, Kodie Hay and Brogan Hay - all deserve a special mention for coming in and delivering."


A children's services department criticised by Ofsted has launched a recruitment drive for experienced social workers.

Northamptonshire County Council was inspected in February 2013 and arrangements for protecting children were found to be "inadequate".
The council has restructured children's services and pledged an extra Â£12m.
Director Alex Hopkins said he wanted to replace more than 60 agency staff with professionals employed directly.
Of 260 social worker posts in children's services 25% are agency workers and half of these are in senior qualified positions.
Mr Hopkins said it was relatively easy to recruit newly-qualified social workers but they required intensive training and heavy supervision until their skills were built up.
"I am looking for staff that can hit the ground running," he said.
"Last year, the county's arrangements for the protection of children were judged by Ofsted to be inadequate."
The council then restructured its social care services and changed working procedures.
Mr Hopkins described it as a period of "significant change" when the council used agency staff to fulfil safeguarding duties.
"Currently one in every four posts in children's social care is filled by an agency worker," he said.
"We have laid the groundwork for a new working culture.
"The council is focusing on recruiting experienced permanent staff so that new practices can be fully embedded consistently across the county's child protection and safeguarding teams.
"This is a great opportunity for experienced staff to contribute."


Indian Premier League chief operating officer Sundar Raman has resigned amid a corruption investigation, a top cricket official has said.

Sundar Raman met Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials in the western city of Nagpur to submit his resignation, reports say.
He had been the chief operating officer of the IPL since its inception in 2008.
Mr Raman is being investigated for alleged involvement in the 2013 spot-fixing scandal. He denies wrongdoing.
"Yes he [Raman] has submitted his resignation to the BCCI president and the BCCI president has accepted it," IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla said.
In July, the Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings teams were found guilty of illegal betting and match-fixing by a panel appointed by India's Supreme Court.
The Royals' co-owner Raj Kundra and Gurunath Meiyappan of the Super Kings were also suspended from all cricket-related activities for life.
The three-member panel had said the two teams were suspended to protect "the integrity of the game".
The IPL is one of richest sports league in the world, but has been mired in controversy in recent years over corruption.
BCCI president Shashank Manohar had hinted at the possibility of Mr Raman's exit in July.
"Raman should have gone immediately after the Mudgal Committee report found him prima facie guilty of wrongdoings. He ought to have stepped down immediately at that time.
"Now, to restore the faith of people in IPL and the game, Raman needs to go," The India Express quotes Mr Manohar as saying in July.


Britain's Jordanne Whiley reached her first Grand Slam final with victory over Aniek Van Koot in the US Open wheelchair women's singles.

Whiley, 23, lost the first set on a tie-break but won the next two to complete a 6-7 (1-7) 6-4 6-3 triumph over the Dutch second seed.
She will play her doubles partner Yui Kamiji in Sunday's final.
Japan's Kamiji beat the top-ranked Dutch player Jiske Griffioen 7-5 3-6 6-4 in her semi-final.
Andy Lapthorne's defence of his men's singles quad title ended with a second defeat in the round robin stage.


Stornoway Coastguard Operations Centre in Lewis has become part of the new coastguard national network.

The centre's technology has been upgraded and new systems of operating have been introduced.
Personnel in Stornoway will also be able to share their workload with other stations, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.
Angus Maclver, maritime operations controller at Stornoway, said the public would not notice any difference.
He said: "If you call 999 and ask for the coastguard, or issue a mayday broadcast, we will still be here to help you.
"The new national coastguard network will be able to oversee and assist with operations around the whole of the UK.
"Here at Stornoway we're now part of this network, so we can call upon help from our fellow coastguards elsewhere in the country, and also in turn help them out if needed."
He added: "It's important to remember though that the rescue teams in your community are unaffected. There will still be the same number of lifeboats, coastguard rescue teams, helicopters and other rescue resources."
The national network is scheduled to be fully operational by the end of this year. Aberdeen joined the network in July.


All charges have been withdrawn against two men accused of the double murder of Catholic workmen 21 years ago.

Gary Convie and Eamon Fox were shot as they sat eating lunch in a car at a building site on North Queen Street.
Prosecutors told Belfast Magistrates Court current proceedings against Mark Campbell and James Smyth were to be ended on a without prejudice basis.
It means the pair remain subject to a future report and could yet go on trial for the May 1994 killings.
Legal sources claimed the development was due to the delay in progressing a linked case against a so-called loyalist supergrass charged with more than 200 offences.
Mr Campbell, 43, of Canning Place, Belfast, and 49-year-old Mr Smyth, from Forthriver Link in the city, were also jointly charged with attempting to murder a third man, Donal Laverty, in the same attack and possessing a Sten submachine gun and ammunition with intent to endanger life.
They were arrested and charged last year by detectives investigating a campaign of murder and serious crime committed by the Ulster Volunteer Force.
The case is connected to ongoing criminal proceedings against Gary Haggarty, an alleged UVF commander-turned assisting offender.
Mr Haggarty, 43, is facing 212 charges, including five counts of murder, six attempted murders, 31 conspiracies to murder, four kidnappings, six false imprisonments and five hijackings.
Around 10,000 pages of evidence has been amassed in the case against him - much of it believed to be based on his own police interviews.
Back in January 2010 he agreed to become an assisting offender under the terms of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act.
But efforts to have Mr Haggarty returned for trial have been repeatedly put on hold as his legal team battles to gain full access to his interview material.
At previous hearings a lawyer for Mr Campbell and Mr Smyth claimed their case could be delayed by up to two years due to the reliance on evidence from the supergrass.
The two defendants were in court on Thursday as a judge was told of the decision to withdraw all charges against them without prejudice to any future prosecution.
The case against them can still be resurrected by the alternative process of an indictable summons.
Eamon Fox and Gary Convie were from County Armagh.
Mr Fox, who was 44, had six children. Mr Convie was 24 and a father of one.


Just 80 UKIP candidates are standing in May's council elections in Wales, despite the party finishing fourth in the 2016 assembly poll.

UKIP also successfully campaigned to leave the EU less than 10 months ago.
BBC Wales' analysis of nominations suggests there are 944 Labour candidates, 630 Conservatives, 577 Plaid Cymru candidates, 280 Liberal Democrats, 80 UKIP and 78 Greens.
There are 160 candidates standing for other parties and 714 independents.
Altogether 1,254 seats are up for grabs in Wales' 22 local authorities.
But 92 candidates have already been returned unopposed, a similar number to the 2012 elections.
One ward, Yscir in Powys, has attracted no candidates at all.
Last year UKIP won seven of the 60 seats in the Senedd, taking more than 12% of the vote.
David Rowlands, UKIP AM for South Wales East, said the party was planning to appoint a regional organiser, but added changes were "still up in the air" and "that's why we aren't as well organised as we might have been for the council elections".
He said: "Nothing has been ratified yet. [Party leader Paul Nuttall] is going to each of the regions and once they see how it's all panned out and can they get the same sort of agreement in the English regions that we seemed to have settled on in Wales."
"We're a party that has really grown from the top down. We had MEPs before we had any councillors.
"Now we're looking to interact much more with the grassroots of the party and get those involved, truthfully in the same way as the Lib Dems have done," he said.
Mr Rowlands also suggested UKIP were "a little bit like Leicester City".
"We've had this fantastic situation where we won the Brexit election," he said.
"Of course you then have a huge restructuring of the party after it, where do we go from here, how do we now reinvent ourselves in some ways."


Failings which led to the deaths of three SAS reservists in the Brecon Beacons amounted to "criminal" recklessness, lawyers have claimed.

L/Cpl Edward Maher, L/Cpl Craig Roberts and Cpl James Dunsby died as a result of neglect on a 16-mile march in 2013.
Solicitors told a parliamentary inquiry a lack of accountability by the Ministry of Defence for accidents had resulted in a "blasÃ© culture".
The MoD said improvements had been made and more may follow.
It is also carrying out its own investigations into the three deaths on one of 2013's hottest days.
Hilary Meredith Solicitors, which specialises in representing members of the armed forces, submitted evidence as the defence sub-committee examines health and safety in military training and exercises.
MPs are looking into whether or not the 125 military deaths in the past 15 years "indicate any systemic failings in the policies and practices of the MoD and the armed forces".
The solicitors' firm said: "Historically the MoD has enjoyed no accountability or ownership for accidents resulting in injury or death on manoeuvres or whilst practising for war.
"A lack of intervention in the armed forces, (for example from the Health and Safety Executive) and Crown censorship has resulted in a blasÃ© culture towards accidents and attrition rates.
It added: "Selection events needs to remain realistic to maintain an effective military force but not at the risk of three deaths in one event as in Brecon. Mistakes made in the Brecon Beacons selection event were so extreme they verged on a reckless disregard to life.
"Risk assessments were so absent on that day as to amount to a criminally reckless regard for life. The effects of Brecon were far-reached with three bereaved families, adverse publicity and irreparable damage to MoD."
Other contributors to the inquiry included L/Cpl Maher's parents, Edward and Marie.
They wrote: "The SAS appears to be currently exempt from the broader legal and financial penalties that regulate every other organisation in the UK.
"Together with a culture that is indifferent to injury and death, this has resulted in an organisation in which there is no imperative to behave responsively and legally nor to learn from its mistakes."
The MoD said it aimed to ensure that all deaths "are properly investigated, lessons identified and acted upon".
The MPs' inquiry has now stopped taking written evidence, but no date has yet been set for when its investigation will end.


The world record for the most gloves put on one hand in 60 seconds has been unofficially broken by a schoolgirl in Hull.

Media playback is unsupported on your device
9 July 2015 Last updated at 13:08 BST
Winifred Holtby Academy said student Alishia Swain managed to put on 22 gloves in one minute. That beats a 2011 record of 13, but is awaiting validation.


Captain Perry Kitchen says Hearts' new head coach Ian Cathro has a "presence about him" in the dressing room.

The 30-year-old's appointment as the youngest head coach in the top-flight generated a polarised response.
He has never played at a significant level, and several pundits questioned his ability to lead a squad of players.
"The sessions have been sharp and we're focused for the weekend, the guys are adjusting as quickly as we can," said American midfielder Kitchen.
"He has a presence when he comes into the dressing room to talk to the guys. [Cathro's age] is not an issue.
"He reiterated that he wouldn't be blowing things up as he might have been if [predecessor] Robbie [Neilson] had been fired, but he's here to just continue and build off what we have here. They're coming into a good situation here.
"We've had him for three days, he's come into a good situation and he's going to bring in new ideas, which is good, but we haven't gone into depth about that. He has a great resume, a great background and his ideas and philosophies will help us."
Cathro was previously assistant manager at Rio Ave, Valencia and Newcastle, and this is his first move into management.
He appointed Austin MacPhee as his assistant, another young coach who never played at a high level, and the pair have been preparing the team for Saturday's visit to face Rangers at Ibrox.
Kitchen says that young head coaches are more commonplace in the MLS, and cited the example of Ben Olsen who became the youngest full-time head coach in the MLS's 15-year history when he took charge of DC United at 33.
"Ben Olsen, did great with us and it was his first professional head coach job," Kitchen said. "If you have knowledge about the game and you're suitable for the job [age] is not an issue.
"Just meeting [Cathro], seeing what he's about, Austin as well, I'd definitely say they're the right guys for the job.
"The first time [Cathro] came into the dressing room, there was a presence about him, his ideas, the tiny details, managing the guys. The last few days, from my point of view, have been impressive. Age is just a number, I wouldn't look into that."


MI5 agents, wearing wigs and make-up to hide their identities, have told a US jury how they tracked a man accused of a transatlantic bomb plot.

Abid Naseer, who was extradited from the UK in 2013, is accused of plotting bomb attacks in Manchester and New York as part of an al Qaeda conspiracy.
He has pleaded not guilty and denied he was involved in any violent extremism.
A judge has made several rulings to protect the spies' identities, including modified court sketches.
Judge Raymond Dearie had previously approved the wigs and "light" make-up to protect the identifies of the officers and ordered courtroom sketch artists to further generalise their appearance over media organisation's objections.
Mr Naseer faces life in prison if convicted of the charges against him - providing and conspiring to provide material support to al Qaeda and conspiring to use a destructive device.
Prosecutors have called the testimony of the MI5 agents essential, saying they tracked Mr Naseer in 2009 and were the only witnesses to his alleged preparation to attack a Manchester shopping centre.
Inside the courtroom - Nick Bryant, BBC News
In a courthouse in Brooklyn, there was the sort of make-up and hair ordinarily associated with theatrical productions on Broadway.
The first MI5 agent who took the stand, known as Officer 1661, wore glasses, a jet-black wig and also a beard - though it was hard to tell whether the facial hair was real or artificial. Speaking in a northern English accent, he described how he had conducted surveillance in Liverpool and Manchester on the defendant Abid Naseer.
Others agents who took the stand included a female agent, Officer 1488, who wore glasses and a shoulder length brown wig, and a third agent, who looked to be of an Asian background, also wore glasses and a black wig.
Throughout the proceedings, they were watched by a representative of the British government, who himself wore a wig and glasses. He also scrutinised the drawings of court artists, who had been instructed by the judge to depict blank faces and generic hair.
The agents followed him as he visited a shopping centre in Manchester, allegedly the target of the plot, a mosque and other locations.
He was previously arrested in the UK on suspicion of plotting an attack.
No explosives were found but he and others were ordered to leave the country. Mr Naseer avoided deportation to Pakistan.
US prosecutors have argued Mr Naseer was the leader of an al-Qaeda cell in Manchester and involved in planning bomb plots in multiple countries, including an alleged plan to bomb the New York city subway.
Mr Naseer is representing himself and has said he went online and used email to find a wife, not contact an al-Qaeda handler, as prosecutors have alleged.
But one officer told the court he had never seen Mr Naseer in the company of a woman.
On Tuesday, Mr Naseer had the opportunity to cross-examine the intelligence officer who had tracked him in the UK.
"Did these movements cause any alarm or suspicion?" he asked. "No," the man, known as Officer 1661, replied.
Evidence from another MI5 spy was recorded last month and played in court in Brooklyn last week.
The officer said he followed Abid Naseer onto a coach and observed him watching a video of the 9/11 attacks on his mobile phone.
UK officials arrested him at the request of US prosecutors several years ago. He was eventually deported after losing an appeal at the European Court of Human Rights.


Bermuda has said it is "surprised and disappointed" to be included on a list of places Ed Miliband says Labour would target in a tax avoidance clampdown.

Mr Miliband wants British territories such as Bermuda to be internationally blacklisted if they do not compile public registers of offshore firms.
Bermuda's government said it had operated a central registry of companies since the 1940s.
Gibraltar says Labour was being "unfair" as it was subject to EU rules.
Mr Miliband has sent a letter to the leaders of the British Overseas Territories of Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Gibraltar and Montserrat. He also contacted the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.
He said that - under a Labour government - they would have six months to compile a register or face being put on an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development list of "tax havens" list, incurring sanctions.
Bermuda premier Michael Dunkley said it remained open to dialogue with the UK.
A statement from Bermuda's government said it had noted Mr Miliband's comments, but insisted it was an international leader in the registration of companies.
Mr Dunkley said: "The government of Bermuda remains open to continuing dialogue with the UK government, the UK opposition, and all other interested parties, in sharing best practice across borders in areas of corporate transparency, and the fight against fraud and crime.
"We would also remind Mr Miliband of Bermuda's strategic economic contribution to the UK, which includes direct and indirect employment in the UK of 100,000 people, as well as our role as a global hub for the reinsurance and insurance industries, providing the critical underwriting required for damage arising from natural disasters and terrorist events."
Speaking on Sky News's Murnaghan programme, Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo, said:  "The standards that apply in respect of financial services and their provision from Gibraltar are exactly the same standards that apply in respect of London, in respect of Frankfurt and the rest of the EU.
"Therefore it is quite unfair to characterise Gibraltar as a tax haven."
The leader of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party added that ministers were adopting an anti-money laundering directive in September and it was "very unlikely" Gibraltar would find itself on the kind of list proposed by Labour.
Labour argues overseas territories and crown dependencies could help to stop or stem tax avoidance by showing tax authorities who is diverting money into companies there.
Chancellor George Osborne dismissed the Labour leader's plans saying he was "unfit to be prime minister" because he did not understand the current system.
Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show Mr Osborne said: "If you actually look at what he's saying, he wants to blacklist every country of the OECD that doesn't have these central registers.
"Britain is leading by example, it is having new central registers, it is insisting that its overseas territories transparently share information with us.
"But the Labour leader is simply not fit for office because he does not think through the consequences of his anti-business, anti-enterprise and anti-our partners abroad policies."
At the G8 summit in June 2013 the prime minster announced plans to tackle tax avoidance and has encouraged the UK's Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to implement their own public central register.
So far none of the islands and outposts have followed the UK's lead, saying they will not make the change until there is international action.


The National Union of Students (NUS) has taken the first step in legal action over government plans to scrap maintenance grants in England.

NUS lawyers have written to Business Secretary Sajid Javid, demanding he properly considers the equality impact of the move.
Plans to scrap grants were announced by Chancellor George Osborne in his budget in July.
The government said it would respond to the letter in due course.
Currently, students whose family income is below £25,000 are eligible for full grants worth up to £3,387 plus a loan of £4,047 if they live away from home outside London.
Partial grants on a sliding scale are available for students whose family income is below £60,000.
The government wants to replace the grants with loans for new students from next year.
In its judicial review pre-action letter, the NUS identifies "a serious and unlawful failure" in the government to discharge a duty set out in the 2010 Equality Act to consider the impact of the policy on the poorest students.
"The abolition of maintenance grants will cause a very significant increase in debt for the poorest students; from £40,500 to around £53,000 at a time when the impacts of the 2012 recent reforms remain to be properly analysed and understood," says the letter.
NUS President Megan Dunn called the government's plan "reckless", citing "strong evidence" the change would mean higher education "becomes less accessible to minority groups".
She added: "We know the huge damage that this change will have if it is allowed to happen. It is obvious that the government is attempting to rush through these changes with no consideration on future generations of students."
Salima Budhani of legal firm Bindmans said the NUS was calling upon the secretary of state "to halt plans to abolish maintenance grants and to gather information to enable him to properly consider the complex equality considerations at stake.
"An open minded reconsideration of the policy should then take place."
A spokeswoman for the Department for Business Innovation and Skills said students would not have to pay back anything until their earnings rose above £21,000.
The maintenance loan for all students would also rise from next year to £8,200 for students living away from home outside London: "the highest amount of support ever provided", the spokeswoman added.


A paramedic with 23 years experience said a heat-stricken Army reservist who collapsed on an SAS test march had the highest temperature he had seen, an inquest has heard.

Cpl James Dunsby's body appeared to be "shutting down" on the Brecon Beacons in July 2013.
The 31-year-old's temperature was 40.4C (104.7F) - well above a normal 37C.
He was one of three reservists to die from overheating on the 16-mile (26km) march on a "boiling hot" day.
Cpl Dunsby, from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, died at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital 17 days later.
L/Cpl Craig Roberts, from Penrhyn Bay, Conwy county, died at the scene and L/Cpl Edward Maher died about three hours later at Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil.
The hearing has previously been told the exercise took place on one of the hottest days of the year, with temperatures expected to hit 27C (80.6F).
In a statement on the seventh day of the hearing, Welsh Ambulance clinical team leader Damon James said he did not think L/Cpl Dunsby would survive.
He said he was initially told on arrival there were three people "on the hill" in cardiac arrest.
Mr James added he was approached by an Army officer who told him he was in charge.
Mr James said: "He told me the male (Cpl Dunsby) had been on a four-day exercise and was half-an-hour from the finish.
"He said the male had collapsed about 100 yards up the track. He said they had carried plenty of water but were pushing themselves to the limit."
The hearing in the Solihull, West Midlands, was also told an unnamed walker was earlier asked by an Army officer to fan down Cpl Dunsby, hold his head and watch his breathing while four other soldiers carried him on a stretcher from the hillside.
The inquest continues.


A man who said he stabbed his friend to death because he heard "voices" telling him to do it has been found guilty of murder.

Tomas Hornay attacked Luis Nazario Ximines with two kitchen knives at the house they shared in Dungannon, County Tyrone on 1 August 2013.
Both men were originally from East Timor but were working in Dungannon and living at the house in Woodvale Park.
Hornay has been remanded into a secure mental health unit in south Belfast.
The 36-year-old defendant has been held in custody at the Shannon Clinic - Northern Ireland's only secure mental health facility - since he was transferred from prison in November 2013.
He had already pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Mr Ximines, but that plea was not accepted by prosecution.
On Friday, the jury at Dungannon Crown Court deliberated for 75 minutes before returning their unanimous decision that Hornay had murdered his friend and housemate.
During the trial, the court heard evidence that Hornay told doctors he heard "several voices" telling him to kill his friend after the victim insulted his wife.
It was alleged Mr Ximines made sexually derogatory comments about Hornay's wife after the defendant "inadvertently" left a photograph of her visible on a computer.
Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Adrian East, who leads the Shannon Clinic, told the court that Hornay described being distressed and angered by the insults.
Dr East adding that in the month leading up to the fatal attack, Hornay was not able to sleep as he "spent all night thinking" about Mr Ximines.
"He stated that over that period he wanted to kill the deceased and he went onto say that he was experiencing several voices telling him to kill the deceased," said the psychiatrist.
On the day of the killing, Hornay told doctors he was getting ready to go to work at Moy Park but became "increasingly angry and began formulating a plan to harm the deceased" because "he couldn't take it any more."
The court heard Mr Ximines was asleep in the house when Hornay armed himself with two kitchen knives, mixed chilli seeds in some water and threw the mixture into his victim's face.
He stabbed him about the neck and chest, causing fatal injuries.
Sentencing was adjourned until 27 March, to allow for further medical and probation reports.


Fast bowler Mitchell Johnson says Australia's attack can reopen the scars of England's batting struggles from their 5-0 Ashes whitewash down under.

Australia are in a commanding position after two days of the second Test at Lord's as they look to square the series after England's win in Cardiff.
Johnson, 33, was named man of the series following Australia's Ashes win in 2013-14 when he took 37 wickets.
"I hope so. That'd be nice, to have those scars come back out," he said.
Left-arm paceman Johnson had a chastening time at the first Test in Cardiff as he finished with match figures of 2-180.
But he looked back to something like his best at Lord's with 2-16 from a six-over spell as England recovered from 30-4 to reach 85-4 after Australia had declared on 566-8.
"Nothing's changed for me. It's always nice to go out there and perform and to bowl at good pace," Johnson added.
"The ball's been swinging over here too and I've really enjoyed that. When the ball swings at good pace it makes it a little more difficult."
He also appeared to make light of England's talk of playing a more attacking style of cricket under new coach Trevor Bayliss.
"We were hoping they would come out and play the aggressive brand they've been talking about," he said. "We hope they come out in the morning and do the same thing."
And he added: "I guess Ben Stokes is a very aggressive player anyway so we'd like to see him play some shots and hopefully get a couple of quick wickets in the morning.
"I can't decide for them, if they want to play aggressive cricket or if they want to go the other way."
England paceman Stuart Broad, who took four for 83 in Australia's first innings, accepted his side had succumbed to the pressure of the tourists' huge total.
"It's always a tricky period when you've conceded a lot of runs to then go out and bat for 30 overs," he said.
"It's always a big test for you and I think mentally we didn't switch on for 20 minutes - and lost four wickets.
"We'll have a few batsmen in that changing room wishing they could face their balls again and play them pretty differently, I think."


World indoor 1500m champion Abeba Aregawi has told her agent she is "not hiding anything" after being suspended for failing a drugs test.

Aregawi, who won gold at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow and 2014 World Indoor Championships in Sopot, has requested that a B-sample is tested.
The Ethiopia-born Swede, 25, failed an out-of-competition test conducted by governing body the IAAF.
Agent Valentijn Trouw said Aregawi was "shocked and devastated" by the news.
In an interview with the BBC World Service, Trouw added that Aregawi does not know how the drugs got into her system.


Burton Albion boss Gary Rowett has been appointed manager of Birmingham City.

The 40-year-old former Blues defender rejoins the Championship club in the wake of Saturday's club record 8-0 home defeat by Bournemouth.
Rowett succeeds Lee Clark, sacked last Monday after two and a quarter years.
Bromsgrove-born Rowett is taking his Burton backroom team of Kevin Summerfield, Kevin Poole and Mark Sale to St Andrew's - all of them former Birmingham players back in the 1990s.
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Burton's head of academy Mike Whitlow will take caretaker charge of the Brewers, to be assisted by Ian Sharps and Lee Bell.
Having been appointed on a rolling 12-month contract, Rowett's first match in charge will be the local derby with Wolves at Molineux this Saturday (1 November, 12.15 GMT).
Financially-challenged Blues will go into the game against the Championship's joint leaders having slipped to second from bottom, as a result of Saturday's heaviest defeat for the club in 84 years.
"I'd like to formally welcome Gary ahead of the start of a new era for Birmingham City," said Blues club director Panos Pavlakis, in a club statement. "I trust all supporters will join me in giving their full backing to our new manager and his backroom staff.
"The board fully understands supporters' frustrations during what has recently been a very difficult period for the football club. As a result, the board will endeavour to improve communication with our loyal supporters moving forward."
Rowett, assistant manager at Burton to Paul Peschisolido before taking charge in March 2012, has twice led his side to the League Two play-offs.
And, in a season when he has already turned down one Championship job at Blackpool, he again has the Brewers handily placed this time round in third.
Burton chairman Ben Robinson told the club website: "After the success Gary has achieved at Burton Albion over the last three years it was inevitable that there would be interest from other clubs.
"Gary is an ambitious young manager and the offer from one of his former clubs playing Championship football was one he wanted to take."
Rowett spent two years with Blues as a player under Trevor Francis between 1998 and 2000.
After finishing his playing career at Burton in 2007, he then returned to the Pirelli Stadium as assistant to Peschisolido in 2009 before taking over when the Canadian, husband of former Blues managing director Karren Brady, was sacked.
Rowett initially took over as caretaker boss before being appointed on a permanent basis at the end of the season.


A new and controversial frontier in mining is opening up as a British firm joins a growing rush to exploit minerals in the depths of the oceans.

UK Seabed Resources is a subsidiary of the British arm of Lockheed Martin.
It has plans for a major prospecting operation in the Pacific.
The company says surveys have revealed huge numbers of so-called nodules - small lumps of rock rich in valuable metals - lying on the ocean floor south of Hawaii and west of Mexico.
The exact value of these resources is impossible to calculate reliably, but a leading UN official described the scale of mineral deposits in the world's oceans as "staggering" with "several hundred years' worth of cobalt and nickel".
An expedition to assess the potential environmental impact of extracting the nodules will be launched this summer amid concerns that massive "vacuuming" operations to harvest the nodules might cause lasting damage to ecosystems.
With the support of the British government, UK Seabed Resources has secured a licence from the United Nations to explore an area of seabed twice the size of Wales and 4,000m deep.
Under the UN's Convention on the Law of the Sea, mining rights on the ocean floor are controlled by a little-known body, the International Seabed Authority, which since 2001 has issued 13 licences - with another six in prospect.
These licences, valid for 15 years, have been bought for $500,000 each by government organisations, state-owned corporations and private companies from countries including China, India, Russia, Japan and South Korea.
The high prices fetched for copper, gold and rare-earth minerals are leading to a surge in interest in mining the ocean floor. The idea first surfaced in the 1970s but was dropped because the costs were too high and the technology could not cope.
The nodules are known to contain up to 28% metal - 10 times the proportion found on land.
A similarly high metal content is found in another target for seabed mining:  hydrothermal vents, chimneys formed by extremely hot water, rich in minerals. We reported on the discovery of the world's deepest vents last month.
Stephen Ball, chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin UK, owner of UK Seabed Resources, says the engineering experience of offshore oil and gas operations and the trend to rising mineral prices have now combined to make seabed mining feasible.
"It's another source of minerals - there's a shortage and there's difficulty getting access, so there's strategic value for the UK government in getting an opportunity to get these minerals," he told the BBC.
China's domination of the global production of rare-earth minerals in particular has fuelled the search for other sources of materials essential for everything from electronics to wind turbines.
But many marine scientists and conservationists have warned that the implications of this deep-sea gold rush are not yet understood - and that mining nodules or hydrothermal vents could prove catastrophic for seabed ecology.
Mr Ball said exploration over the next three years would establish whether a system to vacuum up the nodules could be designed to cause minimal impact. The nodules typically lie in a shallow layer of silt.
He said he believed it would be "perfectly feasible to create a benign method to extract these minerals from extreme depths without disturbing the seabed."
"But until we've demonstrated that, there will be a debate around that."
One risk is that the mining operations could generate huge plumes of sediment that could drift through the sea - choking any marine life that feeds by ingesting water and filtering out its food sources.
Michael Lodge, general counsel for the International Seabed Authority, told me that the authority's aim was to encourage a new mining industry to exploit seabed minerals but within strict environmental controls.
"The nodules are generally lying in sediment that is between 2-6in (5-15cm) thick that's been there undisturbed for millions of years. We simply don't know the recovery times or the distribution of species - there are lots of uncertainties."
He described mining hydrothermal vents as "more invasive" because it would involve breaking up the uppermost metre of the sea floor and piping the rock fragments to the surface.
A Canadian company, Nautilus Minerals, is hoping to be the pioneer of vent mining with plans for operations off the coast of Papua New Guinea. However, work is currently delayed because of a legal dispute. The concern is for the impact mining could have on ecosystems
Nautilus would use massive robotic machines, which are being built in Wallsend, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by a firm with long experience of marine engineering, Soil Machine Dynamics.
Nautilus says that it is devising strategies for minimising the environmental impact, by trying to contain any disturbed sediment and leaving parts of the seabed untouched so the mined area can be recolonised by marine life.
A leading biologist, Professor Cindy Van Dover of Duke University in North Carolina, has carried out research for Nautilus and says life might recover after a single mining event but that no-one can be sure.
"How do we do this so a hundred years from now somebody doesn't look back at us - at me - and say 'Oh my God, I can't believe they were so stupid and let this happen in a particular way'.
"So how do we do it right? How do we do it sustainably?
Michael Lodge has also said questions will remain about profitability while the final terms of mining licences are settled.
The authority was set up to encourage and manage this new sector but any future business, such as the Lockheed Martin subsidiary UK Seabed Resources, will have to pay royalties to the authority to be distributed to developing countries. The exact details have still to be negotiated.
Research into seabed minerals has a long and slightly conspiratorial history, starting in the Cold War with the United States and the Soviet Union surveying the oceans ahead of possible future conflict.
Surveys of seabed nodules in 1970s were also used as a cover by the US for the secret retrieval of a lost Soviet submarine.
Now, the legacy of all that research and exploration is the growing likelihood of large-scale mining operations, fuelled by rising mineral prices, in many parts of the ocean in the coming decades.
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Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe has confirmed which three players are out having returned from international duty with significant injuries.

Midfielder Lewis Cook, forward Max Gradel and defender Brad Smith all missed Saturday's 6-1 win against Hull.
Cook rolled an ankle while playing for England Under-20s, Gradel damaged a hamstring on Ivory Coast duty while Australian Smith has a foot injury.
Howe also confirmed Cook, 19, will see a specialist as part of his recovery.
The former Burnley manager had not revealed which players had been injured playing for their countries before the weekend's Premier League game against the Tigers.
"Lewis Cook was caught in a nasty-looking tackle through no fault of the opposing player," Howe told BBC Radio Solent.
"Scans have revealed it's quite a nasty one, so we're not sure on time-frames just yet and he is seeing a specialist.
"We don't think Max's hamstring pull is too serious and Brad took a really nasty whack on his foot, which we feared may have been broken.
"At the moment, it looks like it's possibly not, so we'll wait and see."


"I am the bullet in the chamber" ran the strapline for the Nike advert featuring Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius.

As the South African athlete faced charges of "premeditated murder" in a Pretoria courtroom following the shooting dead of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, his sponsors went into crisis-management mode.
Nike swiftly pulled the unfortunately-worded ads last week, as the perils of celebrity brand endorsement were brought sharply into focus once again.
Mr Pistorius, who has strongly rejected the murder charge, is thought to have earned several million pounds from sponsorships with Nike, BT, Thierry Mugler, Oakley, and Ossur, the Icelandic firm that makes the prosthetic carbon fibre blades he wears for races.
But in the brutal world of sports sponsorship, the "Blade Runner" stands to lose everything, even presuming his innocence.
On Thursday 21 February, Nike suspended its contact with the athlete, thought to be worth about $2m, saying: "We believe Oscar Pistorius should be afforded due process and we will continue to monitor the situation closely".
Fashion house Thierry Mugler, which chose Mr Pistorius as the face of its A*Men fragrance in 2011, also withdrew all its campaigns featuring the athlete on Wednesday.
Another of Mr Pistorius' sponsors, M-Net Movies, a South African pay TV channel, pulled its TV ad campaign featuring the athlete, last week tweeting: "Out of respect and sympathy to the bereaved, M-Net will be pulling its entire Oscar campaign featuring Oscar Pistorius with immediate effect."
John Taylor, director of a sports sponsorship company and a veteran of the industry, told the BBC: "Even if Pistorius is found innocent, he is damaged goods. Brands need to act quickly and distance themselves from him; they cannot afford to wait until the case is heard.
"It's not like rats deserting a sinking ship, it's just the sensible thing to do."
Nigel Currie, director of sports marketing agency Brand Rapport, agrees, saying: "This is very different to the Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong cases; this is life and death. There's no coming back from this."
Telecommunications group BT, which was recently shortlisted in the Best Sponsorship of a Sport Team or Individual category of the Sport Industry Awards 2013 for its campaign featuring Mr Pistorius, said: "Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragedy. Given the ongoing legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further."
Ossur said it was "highly premature" to make any decisions regarding its relationship with him.
Even his South African management agency was saying little on Friday last week. Peet van Zyl, joint managing director of In-Site Athlete Management, told the BBC: "Oscar has been my client for six years. It's my business to know how much he earns in sponsorships, but we're not in any position to give you any comment at the moment given the sensitivity of the situation."
The global sponsorship industry is worth an estimated $50bn (£32.2bn; 36.4bn euros) a year, according to consultancy IEG, with more than 80% of that being spent on sports.
Nike, which makes annual revenues of over $24bn, spends tens of millions of dollars on sports sponsorships a year. For example, its recent sponsorship deal with Rory McIlroy, the Northern Irish golfer, will reportedly cost the company $100m to $125m (£62m to £77m) over five years.
When its previous brand ambassador, golf titan Tiger Woods, was exposed as a philanderer in 2009, Nike stuck by him even though many other brands cast him adrift.
"Nike's whole golf proposition was built around him. They had spent millions of dollars and simply couldn't afford to drop him", says Alan Ferguson, managing director of The Sports Business, a sports marketing consultancy.
Nike chooses sports stars that seem to embody and reinforce its high-energy brand. "My body is my weapon. This is how I fight," says one video featuring Mr Pistorius and other South African athletes. Its 2012 annual report contained a headline: "We are on the offense. Always."
As Oscar Pistorius demonstrated values of tenacity, valour and triumph over adversity, it made him an obvious fit with the sportswear giant.
But in the light of recent events, Mr Ferguson warns: "I think many brands will be taking stock and re-evaluating their celebrity endorsements now. At the very least they will be doing more detailed background checks on their sports stars."
Tattooed on Oscar Pistorius' back is a quotation from St Paul's first letter to the Corinthians (9: 26-27): "Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."
In the unforgiving, hard cash world of sports sponsorship, Mr Pistorius could find himself being disqualified, whether innocent or guilty.


Two men and a woman have been arrested in connection with an assault and robbery in Edinburgh city centre.

A 39-year-old man was allegedly attacked and robbed on Gibbs Entry near Nicolson Street in the early hours of Friday morning.
Police Scotland said two men, aged 21 and 29, and a 21-year-old woman had been charged.
They were expected to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday.


Tottenham remain without injured pair Erik Lamela and Danny Rose for Sunday's FA Cup quarter-final, which will be shown live on BBC One from 13:30 GMT.

Michel Vorm, Kieran Trippier and Harry Winks could come into an otherwise full-strength side.
Millwall goalkeeper Jordan Archer is a major doubt to face his former club Tottenham because of a groin injury.
There are no other injury concerns, with Steve Morison and Jed Wallace both returning as substitutes last weekend.
Steve Wilson: "Tottenham go into what will be the last ever FA Cup tie played at White Hart Lane in great spirits. As their new home takes shape where Paxton Road used to be, Spurs are unbeaten on their old ground since May.
"Enter Neil Harris and his Millwall team. Two divisions down - but certainly not lacking in confidence. Indeed the Lions are the only team in the top four leagues who are yet to lose a game in 2017, and have conceded only two goals in their last 13 games.
"Logic says Tottenham will win - but if this season's FA Cup is remembered for anything, it will be for the defiance of logic.
"Just ask Lincoln…and Sutton…and Oxford…and Wolves…and Plymouth…and Eastleigh."
Twitter: @Wilsonfooty
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino on Millwall: "It is another London derby and we were watching all the games and they fully deserve to be in the quarter-finals.
"They were better than the Premier League teams. We are aware about that situation. We respect them.
"It is clear how they play, very compact, clear in their idea how they manage the game."
Millwall manager Neil Harris: "I'm looking forward to it. The test in front of us speaks for itself - it's a huge fixture.
"Not only are we playing in an FA Cup quarter-final - the best club competition in the world - but we are also going to Tottenham Hotspur, who are a really talented side.
"But, we've earned the right to pit ourselves against one of the best in the country. We've got nothing to lose and everything to gain."
I think this is where the Lions' run ends. Spurs striker Harry Kane cannot stop scoring and his partnership with Dele Alli looks very special. Tottenham will just be too strong for them.
Prediction: 2-0
Lawro's full predictions v Chelsea Fan TV & Full Time Devils
Head-to-head
Tottenham Hotspur
Millwall


A 75-year-old man has died after the car he was driving left the motorway and crashed into a tree.

Police said the accident happened on the southbound M6 in Lancashire between junctions 33 at Lancaster and 32 at Preston in the early hours.
The driver of a silver Ford Fiesta was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sgt Claire Pearson said detectives were trying to establish what happened and asked for any witnesses to get in touch.