fein are concerned is that sinn fein don't take their seats in westminster. they have a long—standing policy of abstention is, saying we don't believe the british government should rule northern ireland anyway so we are not going to sit in a parliament we believe it is illegitimate, and that is something all parties will criticise sinn fein for. they will say sdlp believe in sitting in westminster to be arguing the day to day things out. just another facet of the northern ireland election is very unique to northern ireland, candidates for sinn fein standing for seats that they will not take up. there was endless speculation about after all these decades sinn fein would turn up and take their seats, and every time it was raised by anybody, they said they are not going to do it. but it is something people talked about. for us covering the westminster parliament, the dup have spent a lot of time talking to them over the last few years, and of course it is very much seen through the prism of the dup. lots of people in northern ireland say hang on a minute, ther

fein are concerned is that sinn fein don't take their seats in westminster. they have a long—standing policy of abstention is, saying we don't believe the british government should rule northern ireland anyway so we are not going to sit in a parliament we believe it is illegitimate, and that is something all parties will criticise sinn fein for. they will say sdlp believe in sitting in westminster to be arguing the day to day things out. just another facet of the northern ireland election is very unique to northern ireland, candidates push insane —— candidates for sinn fein standing for seats that they will not take up. there was endless speculation about after all these decades sinn fein would turn up and take their seats, and every time it was raised by anybody, they said they are not going to do it. but it is something people talked about. for us covering the westminster parliament, the dup have spent a lot of time talking to them over the last few years, and of course it is very much seen through the prism of the dup. lots of people in northern irel

so that was my introduction to working with sinn fein people. now then, back in derry, a year later, the british government decided that there would be a northern ireland assembly and it was decided that martin would stand. so they needed canvas teams, they needed people who knew what they were doing. i had experience from bobby sands‘s election. so i went to one of the meetings and from there i was recruited as one of the people, it was myjob to get martin elected to the northern ireland assembly in 1982 and even my handlers told me, and i've read it in the book, they said to me, look, it is vital that he gets elected. you do whatever you need to do. now, when you tell me that, that your british intelligence handlers were telling you to ensure that martin mcguinness got elected, became a leader of republicans, both political as well as underground military in northern ireland, it has perhaps played into a narrative amongst some in the republican movement that martin mcguinness must have been in some way or other an agent. he must have had lin

in north belfast, the nationalist sinn fein are being given a clear run to try to unseat nigel dodds, the democratic unionist party's leader at westminster. from belfast, here's emma vardy. british or irish? for most voters in northern ireland, elections have always come down to this fundamental choice. ulster shall remain firm to the very end! what we in sinn fein want to do is to build political opposition and to quantify opposition to the british presence. a conflict condemned to repeat itself at the ballot box. the politics of today still echo the troubles of the past, and brexit has deepened old divides. these peace walls have long separated communities, but now, on each side, new alliances have formed, pitting unionists against nationalists and leave versus remain. across the political spectrum, parties have stepped aside for each other, to maximise votes in each camp. it means north belfast has become an out and out fight between the democratic unionists and sinn fein. it is nigel dodds' seat, the leader of the dup in westminster, for two years the conservatives' allies in gove

this time around, sinn fein who do not ta ke time around, sinn fein who do not take their seats — that has been an issue in the campaign. the sdlp make a dramatic comeback with a couple of seats. interesting to see of the cross— party seats. interesting to see of the cross—party alliance party consolidate the gains they made this year, the only party running in all 18 constituencies. yes, how the northern ireland votes go and how it fits into the wider dixie of westminster politics will be absolutely fascinating, giving at the influence the dup has had in the wider political life of the uk over the last few years. we will explore throughout the day. we're going to be speaking to chris page and our northern ireland business and economics editorjohn campbell at 12.30 for your questions answered on northern ireland election issues. you can get in touch with your questions on twitter using the hashtag #bbcyourquestions and you can email us on yourquestions@bbc.co.uk now it's time for a look at the weather. a bit of sunshine across england and wales, brighter also in the north—east of

sinn fein have issues they want to have dealt with in an assembly. the place to do it is in the assembly. the essence of democracy is that you stand for election, you get elected, go to the elected body and you seek to implement the things you want. we cannot work the way we are going at the moment anymore. we hold the world record now for being without a government for the longest time, longer than anyone else. that is something all of us here should be ashamed of. we need stormont back up and running. there are many priorities that matter to the people that we represent out there, and they want the parties to get on with the job. surely we can do that. the dup have been so caught up in their affairs, and i... we are ready to go into government, michelle. we want to share power with you! don't shout at me. but do you want to discriminate against people in our society? i want to sit down in government get on with the job of delivering that. so do i. we have got a plan to do that i'd we want the opportunity to do that. i want to make politics work, th

you are going to vote for sinn fein. why have you chosen to vote for them in your first opportunity to vote in a general election? first offi am opportunity to vote in a general election? first off i am from a catholic background so my parents are also for sinn fein as well but it is because of brexit, i want to remain in europe and sinn fein are pro—europe. remain in europe and sinn fein are pro-europe. is this more about family tradition or is it more about the fact that they are a remain a supporting party? i think it has to do with both but because they are a remain supporting party it has a big influence on my vote personally. they are are an abstention as party and they don't take their seats at westminster so if you vote for the sinn fein candidate and she wins, is she really representing you? don't you want a voice at westminster?” would love a voice at westminster so i hope they do make the right choice and choose to remain no matter what. would you like them to change their policy? yes, definitely. that is

so let's ta ke remain supporting sinn fein. so let's take a look at this report from our ireland correspondent chris page who's been talking to people in the constituency to ask them what matters to them. if you thought the election campaign was an unpredictable, adrenaline—pumping race, try this. garryjennings' passion, dedication and skill have won him international rally driving prizes. his life is fast—paced in other ways too. like many businesspeople in this area, he pays his way by having a few different interests, from fuel sales to farming. but the man who loves to keep moving is frustrated by political paralysis, both at stormont and in the brexit process. it's just uncertainty. we need to know what's happening and we need to know soon, because there's nobody investing in here. there's nobody making positive decisions in anything. and i think that is the real problem. if we just decide what is happening and we can decide how it is going to happen, and it'll survive, but we need to know. just down the road, you get

only power base for the dup or sinn fein 01’ power base for the dup or sinn fein or the other two parties, the alliance party, and the sdlp, the only power base of significance for them will be stormont, so there is a great deal of pressure on the parties, to get a deal back on, and return to stormont, early in the new year. shoppers are being warned about the dangers of buying cheap christmas tree lights through online marketplaces such as amazon and ebay. an investigation by the consumer group "which?" found that almost half the products it tested could cause a fire or electric shock. our business correspondent katie prescott reports. a christmas nightmare. this is what the consumer group which? found could happen when fairy lights sold online don't meet uk safety standards. half of the products they tested caused melting circuit boards and electric shocks. when we're decorating the christmas tree, most of us are probably thinking about what looks prettiest. but all these lights that were found to be faulty came from third—party sellers on online marketplaces, which makes it extremely

sinn fein want legislation to protect the irish language, the dup say they want a broader law to look at all aspects of culture, including those that are important to unionists. so some hard talking to be done, difficult issues to overcome, but a legal deadline out of the middle ofjanuary for an agreement. chris page, at stormont, thank you very much. sophie, the new government begins its first week with a commons majority of 80. the politics of the last three years — the deadlock, the in—fighting, and the inability to move things on — may now be a thing of the past. but this is westminster, and only a fool will try to speculate on what happens here next. that's all here from here — back to you in the studio. simon, thank you. a minute's silence has been held in new zealand a week after a volcano erupted on white island, killing and injuring a number of people. 16 people have died and two are missing presumed dead. about 20 people remain in intensive care with severe burns. phil mercer reports. a week ago, the white island volcano erupted without warning. a minute's silence ha

the main issue pretending sinn fein and the democratic unionists from governing together again. as ever, we enter into these negotiations in a spirit of optimism and determination. and now the big test is political will. i have listened very carefully during this election campaign, and right throughout the campaign there was a desire to get stormont back up and running again. therefore, we are here to try and make that happen, i hope all the other parties will too. since the dup lost its influence in westminster, there's new incentive to get back to power—sharing here, but deeply held positions on both sides make compromise a difficult task. both parties were punished in the general election for three years of stalemate. if there's no agreement in weeks they will face assembly elections, a path they may want to avoid. emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter. i'm @ bbckasiamadera. now on bbc news sport today. hello, i'm gavin ramjaun and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this progra

but both the dup and sinn fein saw their vote significantly reduced, after three years of failure to restore power sharing at the northern ireland assembly. emma vardy‘s report on the result in northern ireland contains some flash photography. applause a major player leaving the stage. nigel dodds, so influential for the dup at westminster and in the campaign to leave the eu — leverage over the brexit process at an end, for the party and for him. i am absolutely very disappointed not just for north belfast but, actually, for northern ireland that they're losing such a great advocate in nigel dodds. cheering john finucane's win highly significant for republicans, the son of a solicitor, murdered by loyalists during the troubles. this is a watershed moment for northern ireland. north belfast now with a nationalist mp for the first time, ousting a veteran politician, in a night of bitter blows for the democratic unionists. i do want to acknowledge the fact that everybody who voted for me tonight aren't necessarily sinn fein supporters, they do have issues with some of our policies.

fein, trying to overturn the nationalist sinn fein candidate and their 875 vote majority from the last general election. chris page has been out and about talking to people about what matters to them. if you thought the election campaign was an unpredictable, adrenaline—pumping race, try this. garryjennings' passion, dedication and skill have won him international rally driving prizes. his life is fast—paced in other ways too. like many businesspeople in this area, he pays his way by having a few different interests, from fuel sales to farming. but the man who loves to keep moving is frustrated by political paralysis, both at stormont and in the brexit process. it's just uncertainty. we need to know what's happening and we need to know soon, because there's nobody investing in here. there's nobody making positive decisions in anything. and i think that is the real problem. if we just decide what is happening and we can decide how it is going to happen, and it'll survive, but we need to know. just down the road, you get to pettigo, a place which shows why that uncertainty is so unse

the general election saw a fall in vote share for both the dup and sinn fein, with the dup losing its deputy leader, nigel dodds, and for the first time unionist parties being overtaken by nationalist parties in the number of westminster seats. is in belfast for us. is this electoral outcome concentrating minds? that's one reading off it. the dup and sinn fein, they both suffered a drop in their vote in the general election, those two parties made up the power—sharing devolved government at stormont that collapsed nearly three yea rs stormont that collapsed nearly three years ago now, injanuary of 2017. since then hospital waiting lists have grown, significantly, they are currently the worst in the uk. infra structure projects are delayed, and school principals complain about what they say is a funding crisis so public services in northern ireland are feeling the strain of not having ministers in charge, of not having elected politicians in office. civil serva nts elected politicians in office. civil servants have basically been running the place because northern irish civil servant

i do want to acknowledge the fact that everybody who voted for me tonight aren't necessarily sinn fein supporters. they do have issues with some of our policies. they stretched themselves on this but they did so because of the nature of the threat that brexit is. it is a threat that transcended party politics. and in a place marked by division, a remarkable win for the centre ground. the cross—community alliance party taking only its second ever westminster seat. and a return to westminster for the sdlp — moderate nationalists who want to see a united ireland attracting voters away from the more uncompromising sinn fein, who don't take their seats in parliament. but none of the northern ireland parties back borisjohnson's brexit deal and attention now turns to this place. 0ld differences must be overcome if a devolved government is to return here to stormont after nearly three years. and talks are supposed to restart on monday. but the face of northern ireland is changing. the hardliners now punished by voters for years of paralysis. emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. labour's heartlan

i do want to acknowledge the fact that everybody who voted for me tonight aren't necessarily sinn fein supporters, they do have issues with some of our policies. they stretched themselves on this, but they did so because of the nature of the threat that brexit is. it is a threat that transcended party politics. and in a place marked by division, a remarkable win for the centre ground — the cross—community alliance party taking only its second ever westminster seat. and a return to westminster for the sdlp — moderate nationalists, who want to see a united ireland, attracting voters in londonderry away from the more uncompromising sinn fein, who don't take their seats in parliament. you want someone to go to westminster to fight your case, to stand up to borisjohnson, to protect us from brexit, but you also want us to get back to work in stormont. but none of the northern ireland parties back borisjohnson‘s brexit deal, and big differences must be overcome for a devolved government to return to stormont. the conservatives' victory saw them advance into areas of the country that h

sinn fein has an abstention of policy. i think more generally in terms of what it might mean for stormont, the very much thatis mean for stormont, the very much that is something i have been struck by in this election, despite it being a westminster election, so much of the conversation has been around the assembly and getting the talks going, getting the parties together, having a negotiation. and rethinking to the more domestic level politics rather than westminster. it has been a strange conversation that has been housed, despite it being a national level election. claire rice, thank you for your thoughts. emily, when boris johnson talks about one nation conservatism, which nation is he speaking to? is it scotland, is it to northern ireland? the results there suggest not. possibly stirring up there suggest not. possibly stirring up some real issues, some real problematic issues for him to deal with in the coming months. thank you very much indeed. victoria derbyshire is with voters in birmingham. good afternoon. we have

the main issue pretending sinn fein and the democratic unionists from governing together again. as ever, we enter into these negotiations in a spirit of optimism and determination. and now the big test is political will. i have listened very carefully during this election campaign, and right throughout the campaign there was a desire to get stormont back up and running again. therefore, we are here to try and make that happen, i hope all the other parties will too. since the dup lost its influence in westminster, there's new incentive to get back to power—sharing here, but deeply—held positions on both sides make compromise a difficult task. both parties were punished in the general election for three years of stalemate. if there's no agreement in weeks they will face assembly elections, a path they may want to avoid. emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. now on bbc news, our world. as the push to save the planet gets even more urgent, one town has already cut its carbon emissions by 80%. we have been not waiting for the world to tackle climate change. we want to do it ourselves. i

sinn fein maintained seven mps, but their share of the vote to drop. while the dup lost two of their ten mps. not a great election for two of the main party. the thinking is that perhaps those election statistics would reflect some kind of tipping point, but people are losing patience with the political deadlock here, that will concentrate minds in these talks. that is a legal deadline of sorts set for the 13th of january. the northern ireland secretary, gillian smith, has indicated that if there is no—deal by that stage, he would be minded to call another election, this time, to the stormont assembly. this back to westminster. as westminster welcomes some 140 new members of parliament today many shared their thoughts on social media on theirjourneys from across the country. (ani ff gfx)selaine saxby said it was an early start for her as she set out from her north devon constituency(ani)gagan mohindra, who took the south west hertfordshire seat from tory defector david gauke said today felt a bit like the first day at a new school. (ani) and the new

the main issue pretending sinn fein and the democratic unionists from governing together again. as ever, we enter into these negotiations in a spirit of optimism and determination. and now the big test is political will. i have listened very carefully during this election campaign, and right throughout the campaign there was a desire to get stormont back up and running again. therefore, we are here to try and make that happen, i hope all the other parties will too. since the dup lost its influence in westminster, there's new incentive to get back to power—sharing here, but deeply—held positions on both sides make compromise a difficult task. both parties were punished in the general election for three years of stalemate. if there's no agreement in weeks they will face assembly elections, a path they may want to avoid. emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. now on bbc news, the travel show. this week on the travel show: i'm in the uk to see up close how one of the nation's most iconic landmarks is getting a much—needed facelift. 0h! you oh, my very word. look at that! and with the

the main issue pretending sinn fein and the democratic unionists from governing together again. as ever, we enter into these negotiations in a spirit of optimism and determination. and now the big test is political will. i have listened very carefully during this election campaign, and right throughout the campaign there was a desire to get stormont back up and running again. therefore, we are here to try and make that happen, i hope all the other parties will too. since the dup lost its influence in westminster, there's new incentive to get back to power—sharing here, but deeply held positions on both sides make compromise a difficult task. both parties were punished in the general election for three years of stalemate. if there's no agreement in weeks they will face assembly elections, a path they may want to avoid. emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. violent protests have continued in major cities in india in opposition to a new citizenship law which many see as discriminating against the nation's large muslim minority. prime minister narendra modi has appealed for calm, but he'

in 2017, michelle gildernew won the seat for sinn fein byjust 875 votes. the ira's bobby sands won the seat whilst on hunger strike in maze prison in 1981. he died less than a month later. and in the eu referendum vote, 59% of the population wanted to remain, with several businesses in the area concerned how their livelihoods could be affected, if border checks are introduced. so, brexit, then, on people 5 minds in the election. but dig a little deeper in a land where there 5 been no functioning government at stormont for close to three years, and you ll find other concerns — some very deep, that weigh heavy. this is divided soil. a land where the sun warms two beliefs. rival loyalties that have caused past pain now play out in an election touched by brexit. this is literally the front line of the debate, a uk constituency that merges seamlessly with the european union. eamon? and eamon fitzpatrick‘s business straddles both worlds. we are in northern ireland now, and this is the republic? yes. so this is the border? yes. that man going past there, that

the main issue pretending sinn fein and the democratic unionists from governing together again. as ever, we enter into these negotiations in a spirit of optimism and determination. and now the big test is political will. i have listened very carefully during this election campaign, and right throughout the campaign there was a desire to get stormont back up and running again. therefore, we are here to try and make that happen, i hope all the other parties will too. since the dup lost its influence in westminster, there's new incentive to get back to power—sharing here, but deeply held positions on both sides make compromise a difficult task. both parties were punished in the general election for three years of stalemate. if there's no agreement in weeks they will face assembly elections, a path they may want to avoid. emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. the headlines on bbc news: boeing suspends production of its 737 max aircraft, which had been the subject of intense scrutiny following two fatal crashes. we must repay the trust of the electorate and that is what we are going to do

sinn fein retained their number of mps. they won seven seats. however, they still lost a significant number of votes. so all the parties acknowledge that on the door steps in the the campaign, they were taking heat from voters and they had to get back into government. there is a sense that the mood has changed and there has been a shift both from the public and political perspectives and these talks have a better chance of succeeding. but given that outstanding issue still remain very difficult issues, such as the legal status of the irish language which has been a sticking point and there isa has been a sticking point and there is a lot of difficult talking to be done and the northern ireland secretary has been meeting the party leaders this morning and the irish foreign minister willjoin the talks this arve —— afternoon. so the legal deadline is 13th january. mr smith says there will be a stormont election if there isn't an agreement by that point and given that the dup and the sinn fein saw a drop in support, you would think they would ra

this is talking about who jeremy corbyn is, spent time with before jeremy adams from sinn fein backed jeremy adams from sinn fein backed jeremy corbyn, there were suggestions on social media that he had and all that stuff is part of the narrative which is which is would you risk your country in safety with this man. there is a question ofjudgement safety with this man. there is a question of judgement and safety with this man. there is a question ofjudgement and when it comes back to this sort of atrocity and attack, actually we need our prime minister to be a statesman, we don‘t need him to be the sizing it and off the back of a weekend where insta ntly, and off the back of a weekend where instantly, he went on the attack and started blaming it on labour, tab this sort of intervention that again plays into politicising, it‘s kind of crass and they were always going to go on the attack with this but it‘s about timing and a time we expect them to be acting like a prime minister, a statesman, to be laying crass, dirty, gutter politics feels unbecoming. but on the front page we hav

in 2017, michelle gildernew won the seat for sinn fein byjust 875 votes. the ira's bobby sands won the seat whilst on hunger strike in maze prison in 1981. he died less than a month later. and in the eu referendum vote, 59% of the population wanted to remain, with several businesses in the area concerned how their livelihoods could be affected, if border checks are introduced. so, brexit then on people s minds in the election. but dig a little deeper in a land where there s been no functioning government at stormont for close to three years, and you ll find other concerns, some very deep, that weigh heavy. singing this is divided soil. a land where the sun warms two beliefs. rival loyalties that have caused past pain now play out in an election touched by brexit. this is literally the front line of the debate, a uk constituency that merges seamlessly with the european union. eamon? and eamon fitzpatrick‘s business straddles both worlds. we are in northern ireland now, and this is the republic? yes. so this is the border? yes. that man going past there, t

in 2017, michelle guildenough won the seat for sinn fein by just 875 votes. the ira's bobby sands won the seat on hunger strike in prison in 1981 and he died less than a month later. and in the eu referendum vote, 59% of the population wanted to remain, but several businesses in the area concerned how their livelihoods could be affected if border checks are introduced. so brexit clearly on people's minds in the election but dig a little bit deeper in a land where there has been no functioning government at stormont for close to three years, you will find other concerns, some very deep, that weigh heavy. this is divided soil. a land where the sun warms two beliefs. rival loyalties that have caused past pain now play out in an election touched by brexit. this is literally the front line of the debate, a uk constituency that merges seamlessly with the european union. eamon? and eamon fitzpatrick‘s business straddles both worlds. we are in northern ireland now, and this is the republic? yes. so this is the border? yes. that man going past there, that's our sout

sinn fein, dup when we started the night. it is now very different picture, sinn fein, very good evening for them particular in north belfast. yes, they managed to take out the head of the dup and the head of the parliament in north belfast. a bit ofa parliament in north belfast. a bit of a crush for the dup there. across the border, they've held all their seats, and it was a brexit vote. it was brexit that pushed us over the line. what about the dup? a very poor night, three seats lost, so now unionists are in the minority so it isa unionists are in the minority so it is a poor night for unionism. how much difference will it make to politics? significant. a lot of heads and chins down after what has taken place. thank you both very much forjoining me and let's go to oursnp much forjoining me and let's go to our snp voter much forjoining me and let's go to oursnp voter in much forjoining me and let's go to our snp voter in scotland. this was like 2015, almost all yellow. it is a pretty impressive result for the snp. it shows

he was beaten by sinn fein in north belfast. the dup is still the largest party in northern ireland, but it's reduced to eight mps. between them, sinn fein and the nationalist sdlp have nine. you can take a closer look at the election results on our website. compare how the parties performed in maps and charts at bbc.co.uk/news or on the bbc news app. that's it. now back to election 2019. welcome back. we are bringing you the latest reaction to the conservative government winning a majority. we are staying with that thought on northern ireland. we can cross to belfast. stephen farry, deputy leader of the alliance party, defeated alex easton of the democratic unionist party byjust under 3,000 votes. he's with annita in belfast now. really, northern ireland has had its own earthquake there, a completely different one, completely new picture for many there. that's absolutely right, emily. so many interesting stories coming out of the election here at this time. the story in the north down constituency another one. it had been held

sinn fein had the same number as last time, seven but in overall terms they failed from the dup lost two of their ten mps. many people are reading that now is a message coming from the electorate that simply is years of paralysis are not good enough, that devolved government has to resume. the public services here are under increasing strain, the health service in particular, new figures released during the campaign which underlined the fact that northern ireland had the fact that northern ireland had the longest hospital waiting times in the uk by far. more than 100,000 people here waiting to see a consultation for more than a year. gives you deceptive in impact the lack of government had here so it gives it a sense of the pressure politicians are now under to try to finally get a deal. the deadline for these talks the of january. thank you. our ireland correspondent there. let's get the thoughts now of some more new mps — new to the house of commons in 2019, daisy cooper, liberal democrat mp for st albans who overturned a conservative majority to become the city's first lib dem m

fein also having a bad infected we re sinn fein also having a bad infected were selection, they went down 7%, the dup went down five, the two of them now are probably going to resume or want to resume quite quickly. that's very dramatic and significant because there were quite serious and sober commentators who we re serious and sober commentators who were beginning to think that stormont would never come back, the divisions were too great and the atmosphere was too ugly. this election has been a big change, really between them only getting about half of the votes, they both had a big scare. it does seem to be a time for real soul for those parties that did badly last week. are there recriminations going on in the party, are there people saying we got the strategy wrong?|j the party, are there people saying we got the strategy wrong? i think both of those parties don't really say what they think, so they put a brave face on it. if they are not having serious discussions about what went on they would need to be having it. ithink, again, good to go back to the point about the units bei

the dup have eight, sinn fein seven, and other parties eight. ourfirst report, from jonathan blake, contains flash photography. (tx a convincing victory, winning here in blyth valley ourfirst report, from jonathan blake, contains flash photography. a new dawn, the prime minister left downing street to meet the queen and asked to form a new government. now though with a majority in parliament and the mandate from the country that he badly needed. it was a convincing victory in seat after seat, the conservatives held their own territory and took labour's heartlands too from england's north—east to south wales, this was a night that saw the electoral map redrawn. we did it. vindication for a campaign that capitalise on the frustration that so many had felt. well, we did it, we did it! we pulled it off, didn't we? we pulled it off, we broke the deadlock, we ended the gridlock, we smashed the roadblock. and after turning once solid labour seats tory blue he promised not to let voters down. your hand may have quivered over the ballot paper before yo

these days sinn fein's majority is just under 1000, so it is still very, very tight. across northern ireland, those issues, that battle, that raised between unionism and nationalism does seem to trump most considerations for voters. does seem to trump most considerations forvoters. some indication earlier this year that parties in the centre now defined themselves as unionist or nationalists were making ground. themselves as unionist or nationalists were making groundm is interesting to see that can be sustained this time. i appreciate you actually being here and hearing the frustrations of people about everyday issues that have have problems about things that have been stalled or prevented from happening is the result of stormont not having an effective government. the region has been in administrative autopilot since power—sharing collapsed. civil serva nts since power—sharing collapsed. civil servants have been running the place, but they don't have unlimited decision—making powers. the huge issue has been the health services, more than 300,000 people, out of

fein do take their seats, he really got a very comfortable margin by which we expect this withdrawal agreement bill to pass i its second readi today, and this is very much a full steam ahead, boboris johns, who on the back of the queen's speech talking about this withdrawal agreement bill and then also the money being plowed into the national health service, infrastructure and australian immigration system really wants to be seen, particularly in the first 100 days, to be hitting the ground running. so while the rest of the united kingdom is on its way on holiday and we are days away from what is a highly respected, whether you are religious or not, holiday, where things shut down until the fourth of january, people like us, the media, international, u.k. and all the parliamentarians and all the people of the staff in there are absolutely applying their minds this morning and it will culminate in a vote that we expect to result around 3:00 p.m. london time, 4:00 p.m. paris time, with a resounding yes before the next stages in january. we understand they need three days that the gover

in south belfast, sinn fein isn't running to maximise the chances of the nationalist sdlp. in north belfast, the sdlp is standing aside to give sinn fein a clear run stop north belfast also one of two constituencies where two main unionist parties are operating an electoral pact to unite the units vote, as they have done in several previous elections. the cross immunity allies party is the only one standing in all 18 constituencies, it is trying to build on significant gains in the council european elections earlier this year. —— the cross community alliance party. these have been the main issues in the campaign but the issue of health care is also up the agenda with health care workers taking industrial action and also new figures being published which have highlighted the fact that northern ireland has the longest hospital waiting times in the uk by far. all that highlighting no devolved government and talks of revising is stormont are pencilled in to begin next monday. boris johnson has been in south wales, he visited the seat of caerphilly, an unusual choice because

fein off the ground and see what it looks like. i think there is nervousness in parts of the ukraine about whether their man can hold the line, if you like, against this very experienced russian counterpart but there is no doubt it is an important moment to try and build that relationship. that is something that president macron is keen to do. thank you lucy. thank you lucy. tributes have been paid to one of the last surviving battle of britain pilots, who's died at the age of 101. flight lieutenant maurice mounsdon helped to defended the skies above southern england from the nazis in 1940. his death leaves only three remaining members of the pilots who became known as the few. 0dds odds are passing into raf history. maurice mounsdon was 21 when he joined up, less than a year after completing his training, he was in combat over kent. spitfires roar into action. flying hurricanes he flew missions against the waves of german bomber, sent to soften britain up ahead of hitler's planned invasion. during july and early august, more mauri

sinn fein have launched their election manifesto. speaking at the event in londonderry, the party's president mary lou mcdonald explained why she believes this election is the most important for years. brexit has changed everything for all of us. it has had the effect of uniting improbable allies in the face of real threats to people's livelihoods. as general election campaigning continues, more focus is being put on some of the seats that could determine the outcome. in 2017, the result in many constituencies was very close. so if a relatively small number of people change their vote in those constituencies this time, the seats could change hands. 0ur chief political correspondent vicki young has been assessing some of these key marginals. there are ten days to go and if you are one of the many yet to make up your mind, it's time to start thinking about who you might vote for. let's take a look at the bbc‘s poll tracker. the trend since august has been a rise for the conservatives, up to an average of 42%. labour has also climbed

the main issue pretending sinn fein and the democratic unionists from governing together again. as ever, we enter into these negotiations in a spirit of optimism and determination. and now the big test is political will. i have listened very carefully during this election campaign, and right throughout the campaign there was a desire to get stormont back up and running again. therefore, we are here to try and make that happen, i hope all the other parties will too. since the dup lost its influence in westminster, there's new incentive to get back to power—sharing here, but deeply held positions on both sides make compromise a difficult task. both parties were punished in the general election for three years of stalemate. if there's no agreement in weeks they will face assembly elections, a path they may want to avoid. emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. hundreds of former sub—postmasters accused of stealing from the post office say they've been vindicated, following a high court ruling that the computer system they had to use was flawed. last week the post office agreed to pay co

since power—sharing between sinn fein and the democratic unionists collapsed, there's been no ministers to tackle the health crisis. now there are calls from all sides for westminster to intervene. but downing street says for the parties to start governing together again is the best way for this dispute to be resolved. emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. relatives of four british soldiers who were killed in the 1982 hyde park bombing in london have won a civil case against a former member of the ira. the judge ruled that the suspect — john downey — was an "active participant" and wasjointly responsible, with others, for the attack on servicemen who were riding through the park. the judgement will mean that the families can now seek damages. 0ur correspondent angus crawford was at the high court. they've waited years, the bereaved. fighting to get to the truth. the judge gave that decision, but no matter what decision he's given, nothing can bring those four boys back but we've worked tirelessly as a family to get that decision. a wicked, premeditated attack, the court heard. on a warm su

you know we've got the northern island we have the jewels for 30 years the provisional ira and sinn fein loyalists are the negotiating table and then we have the only bombing as the good friday agreement is signed and the real ira as it was then was for i could give other examples around the world but there is always a group that's always. disaffected by any. progress that with the cause they are fighting for they still think it's present so you can never say they're totally defeated well one thing about islamist inspired terrorism is a strong ideology towards a strong ideological link and that hasn't gone away so. i mean for example in the u.k. we we dropped our threat level from severe to substantial a lot and i was it went from highly likely to likely unlikely as we saw with the london bridge attack on the 29th of november it happens and that individual. you know he he was released from prison but he had those connections and quite clearly he was still in be with ideology so we can't totally relax. david greatly appreciate your expertise and analysis stay below is my guest is terroris

since power—sharing between sinn fein and the democratic unionists collapsed, there have been no ministers to tackle the health crisis. now, there are calls from all sides for westminster to intervene. but downing street says for the parties to start governing together again is the best way for this dispute to be resolved. emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. relatives of four british soldiers who were killed in the 1982 hyde park bombing have won the first stage of a high court civil case against a convicted ira member. today, the judge ruled the suspect john downey was an active participant and was jointly responsible, with others, for the attack. the judgment will enable the families to now seek damages. 0ur correspondent angus crawford was in court. an attack on the very heart of london, in a royal park. they‘ve waited years, the bereaved, fighting to get to the truth. the judge gave that decision. but no matter what decision is given, nothing can bring those four boys back, but we‘ve worked tirelessly as a family to get that decision. a wicked, premeditated attack, the court heard. on a

sinn fein have launched their election manifesto. speaking at the event in londonderry, the party's president mary lou mcdonald explained why she believed this election was the most important for years. this election is, as has been said, the election of a generation. you know, that's notjust rhetoric. that's the truth of it. because brexit has changed everything for all of us. it has had the effect of uniting improbable allies in the face of real threats to people's livelihoods, to our rural communities. labour has pledged to cut train fares by a third and introduce free rail travel for under 16s if it wins the general election. the proposal is part of broader plans to nationalise the network. and the leader of the snp, nicola sturgeon, has defended her argument for a second independence referendum during a bbc phone in. she also said the party had an opportunity to try and stop boris johnson. i think borisjohnson winning this election would undoubtedly make the case for independence even stronger, but the point i was going to make,

it took north down and the s dlp took of oil from sinn fein. just before the declaration, cuddle for dylan. he looks like he is dealing with all the attention pretty well. all the latest results on our webpage with real—time analysis from the experts. welcome back two of the bbc election centre and we are declaring a victory for the conservatives in this election campaign and this contest. they have now passed the line in which they form a majority in the house of commons. they are already on 338 that this is the projected final score. we will see if it works out precisely. we are projecting onto the walls that boris johnson will be on 363 seat, just 35 seats to come in, and labour on 203. scotla nd seats to come in, and labour on 203. scotland playing a very big part in the story of the night. let's join rita to see what the snp games are looking like. shaping up to be a strong note for the snp. more gains declared fairly recently. labour ‘s last seat in glasgow fall into the snp. quite interesting because one of the candidates had been su

like in south belfast, sinn fein is running there and saying that they should vote for the sdlp. that is one exam plot how brexit has broken the mould in a sense of the limit in northern ireland. one party standing in all 18 constituencies in northern ireland and says they don‘t do pacts. they also want to build on the gains they made in the european council elections in northern ireland earlier this year for some there is no doubt that i think the constitutional question, the identity of nationalism and unionism, britishness and irishness, that has been the focus again and the focus again on the land but with the focus again on the land but with the irish republic which has been such a huge part of the whole brexit process. another issue has really risen up the agenda in the last few weeks, that is the health service in northern ireland. it is widely acknowledged that the nhs here is now in crisis. new figures published just a few weeks ago underlining the fa ct just a few weeks ago underlining the fact that hospital waiting times here are the worst in the uk by far. also, hea

fein to get terms of the dup in the bigger picture is becoming less relevant if we do get that tory majority to come through. thanks, a look, at some of the seats we are going to focus on. because we just have exit polls so far. we are looking for confirmation polls.t -- of the exit we have 650 constituencies and will bring you the ones that matter and the ones that are either confirming or moving away from the exit hole. our guest, elizabeth martin at hsbc, and the head of sx sales will also join us at this late hour, five minutes after 11:00 in london. thank you both for joining us. 2.3%, it pound up by seems there was more upside on confirmation of a johnson majority. it was a best case but in terms of position, relatively light. expectations in the past few days have become subdued to the point where many investors think we could go to a hung parliament. the market recently only got out of a short position and moved to a light long, so it is far from being a crowded trade. continuation the of a higher pound. i think it cuts 140 relatively soon. we are at 130 five and were at 144

he is facing a challenge from sinn fein, last time, there was a gap of around 2000 bout. this time, the pro—remain parties have very much rallied behind sinn fein, strengthening his hand, that has those in the dup worried about nigel dodds being able to retain his seat. we have also learned that there are now almost 4000 new voters registered in north belfast, that will make that battle even more intriguing. studio: what are the primary issues for vote rs, studio: what are the primary issues for voters, how high up the ranking is brexit? reporter: the election started out very much as a brexit framed election, not least because of unionist concerns about the boris johnson's up and ready deal. as the weeks have continued, the focus has very much shifted to what is not happening at stormont, the fact we now have a power vacuum in northern ireland, that crisis has been brought into sharp focus because of the fact that we have nurses on the picket line, a health crisis, the longest waiting lists in the uk. that means people here or at the ground are more anxious about what

fein — stopped cooperating with each other. that has continued. so we need to look at where whether they can achieve any type of agreement. from northern ireland to scotland, the scottish nationalist party continued its dominance. it now has 48 out of the 59 seats in scotland — that's up from 35 in 2017. and the central part of its manifesto is to hold another referendum on scottish independence next year. its leader, nicola sturgeon, has this message for borisjohnson. scotla nd scotland cannot be imprisoned with the united kingdom against its will. and these are just basic statements of democracy. the tories might rage against the reality of what happened on thursday for a while, i fully expect that they will. ultimately they will have to face up to and confront that reality because the will of the scottish people cannot be ignored. but the snp wanting another referendum doesn't mean that they can get one, as rob watson explains. scotla nd scotland can't hold another referendum unless the uk government gives permission. but

the main issue pretending sinn fein and the democratic unionists from governing together again. as ever, we enter into these negotiations in a spirit of optimism and determination. and now the big test is political will. i have listened very carefully during this election campaign, and right throughout the campaign there was a desire to get stormont back up and running again. therefore, we are here to try and make that happen, i hope all the other parties will too. since the dup lost its influence in westminster, there's new incentive to get back to power—sharing here, but deeply held positions on both sides make compromise a difficult task. both parties were punished in the general election for three years of stalemate. if there's no agreement in weeks they will face assembly elections, a path they may want to avoid. emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:a0pm and 11:30pm this evening in the papers. 0ur our guests joining 0ur guestsjoining me our guests joining me tonight are the former dire

sinn fein have launched their election manifesto. speaking at the event in londonderry, the party's president mary lou mcdonald explained why she believed this election was the most important for years. this election is, as has been said, the election of a generation. you know, that's notjust rhetoric. that's the truth of it. because brexit has changed everything for all of us. it has had the effect of uniting improbable allies in the face of real threats to people's livelihoods, to our rural communities. labour has pledged to cut train fares by a third and introduce free rail travel for under 16s if it wins the general election. the proposal is part of broader plans to nationalise the network. and the leader of the snp, nicola sturgeon, has defended her argument for a second independence referendum during a bbc phone in. she also said the party had an opportunity to try and stop boris johnson. i think borisjohnson winning this election would undoubtedly make the case for independence even stronger, but the point i was going to make,