experts and commentators to guidance through the day. welcome to viewers on bbc one northern ireland and viewers on bbc news, this is a stormont special, in which history is about to be made. let s cross to parliament buildings. talk is through the significance as you see it as to what will happen. i through the significance as you see it as to what will happen. it as to what will happen. i don t think ou it as to what will happen. i don t think you could it as to what will happen. i don t think you could understate - it as to what will happen. i don t think you could understate the l think you could understate the symbolic significance today here after 100 years of northern ireland, we are going to get our first nationalist republican first minister here and we have had 11 other leaders in northern ireland, so this will be a significant moment is notjust because titles matter, michelle o neill will have a new title, but we will see within the assembly chamber that visual
world championship match. hello, i m mark lobel. here in the uk the veteran tv presenter phillip schofield is to step down from the programme this morning with immediate effect after more than 20 years on the itv programme, thatis that is according to the broadcaster. the 61 year old tv presenter will not return to co host the morning talk show with holly willoughby, with thursday s show being his last. in an statement, itv said that holly willoughby will remain on this morning and will co present with members of the this morning family. despite his departure from this morning, phillip schofield will continue to present peak time shows for itv. this is the statement mr schofield has posted on his instagram a short time ago: his long time co host, holly willoughby, posted a statement on instagram, saying: with more on this, we canjoin robin brant in the newsroom. give us a contact for what has happened here. give us a contact for what has ha ened here. ~ . , . ., happened
craig williams and laura saunders, on the date of the general election. on the campaign trail, labour is setting out changes to the process for someone to legally change their gender. the party is also offering to provide hundreds of thousands more dental appointments on the nhs. the lib dems release their analysis on hospital waiting times. leader sir ed davey claimed the country has ten days to save the nhs. the snp sjohn swinney will give a speech on brexit. while the dup is launching its manifesto in northern ireland. so it is a busy day for all of the parties today. we ll touch on all of the above in this programme, but let s start with the election betting investigation. here s tobias elwood speaking to the bbc radio 4 today. this betting saga has been deeply unhelpful, self inflicted distraction, and in what world they thought this was acceptable is beyond belief. the prime minister has expressed his anger, he said that at the leaders s question time debate. it has bee
here in northern ireland for the local government elections, and we have about 88% of the results so far. and, the big story here has been a surge in support for sinn fein, the party that at its core belief, thinks there should be a united ireland. so, that has really been the dominant story, sinn fein gaining support, particularly in some areas that have typically been known for having a unionist stronghold. places like ballymena and lisburn. so, that will put the democratic unionist party into second place, and it is the first time that a nationalist party will be the largest at a local government level. the big question here will be what impact, if any, will these results have on the restoration of stormont. we currently have no executive in northern ireland because the dup is boycotting an executive in it s position over the northern ireland protocol. but in the coming weeks and months ahead, we will get a little bit closer to finding out what this will mean in terms of