£1 billion over budget. dup ministers ran that and the scheme was set up in 2000 drop under the guidance of arlene foster who at the time was enterprise minister. so a public enquiry is underway now but could take at least six months for it to report. so if arlene foster went along with demands of the nationalist parties, she could be out of the first minister's offers for quite some time. there are suggesting they would be content with another dup politician in the role of first minister and perhaps even arlene foster in another ministerial role. but for arlene foster as leader of unionism to stand down from the top political post in northern ireland, would be a very major step. she spoke to the media today in between meetings with the northern ireland secretaryjames brokenshire and a meeting with sinn fein and the dup and did not seem to com pletely fein and the dup and did not seem to completely rule out the thought that a caretaker first minister could ta ke a caretaker first minister could take over. when the prospect was put to her she said it was regrettable but sinn fein had been making red

lines, join red lines before the negotiations and said her party was not going to do that but she said these things would have to be worked out in negotiations. so not a flat no but certainly up until now the dup have been vocally resist to the idea that arlene foster should temporarily stand aside as first minister for the duration of the public enquiry. so not a flat note for her to stand aside but surely the dup would not want as sinn fein clearly does not want, direct rule from westminster and as result the dup may be willing to bend a little bit as a result? well the stakes are very high. the party is technically have three weeks from now to do a deal, get a new system in place for power—sharing, a new agreement between them. it's not clear exactly what it would take to get them over the line for sinn fein to nominate the line for sinn fein to nominate the deputy first minister and for the deputy first minister and for the dup to nominate a first minister which take the greeks would be what was needed for stormont to come back again. but it is going to be a difficult task, the rift between the

parties is extremely deep. they both said they are committed to making power—sharing work, they both said direct rule would not good from the point of view of northern ireland and they want devolution back but at the same time both parties said they wa nted the same time both parties said they wanted to be the right deal. it could take longer than three weeks, there could be some more wriggle room if british and irish governments think a deal is likely, it could go on for longer. thank you. there are concerns about the future of more than 4,000 jobs at vauxhall plants in the uk, after the business was bought by the french company psa. they already own peugeot and citroen, and have agreed a deal to buy vauxhall in britain and 0pel in germany, for just under two billion pounds. vauxhall has two factories here in luton and ellesmere port, and thousands morejobs rely on the plants. the business secretary, greg clark, says he's "cautiously optimistic" about their future. our correspondent ben ando has spent the day at vauxhall‘s plant in luton gauging reaction to the deal. for the 1500 or so workers in this

plant in luton where they make vauxhall vivara vans plant in luton where they make vauxhall viva ra vans it plant in luton where they make vauxhall vivara vans it has been a day of learning deal has been done but the remains uncertainty about what exactly it will mean. i'd spoke to one worker here during a shift change and he and he said he has been here since he was 19 years old for nearly 30 years. and he says this has happened before, they have seen a potential takeover, heard of potential closures, but always the plant has survived and in some ways he said his colleagues are quite philosophical still. what they have going for them here if they know they are amongst the most efficient pla nts they are amongst the most efficient plants in europe, they also know there's at least an eight—year deal to continue building vivara vans on the table and apparently agreed to by the management at psa. what they cannot control of course is brexit. and the terms of brexit could have an important role here because as

much as 70% of the parts used to build the fans and the cars at ellesmere port come from abroad. and if tariffs or impose meaning importing them becomes more expensive, that might make those vivara vans expensive, that might make those viva ra vans more expensive, that might make those vivara vans more expensive and make this planet less cost—effective at which point it could be they say, they're worried that management of psa might decide to rationalise down and close them. nonetheless that is something that is far in the future at the moment and most workers here say they are cautiously optimistic and that is a view shared by the unions as well. the french republican party has vowed to unite behind its presidential candidate, francois fillon, in next month's election, after the former french prime minister alain juppe, ruled out stepping in to replace him. pressure is growing on monsieur fillon, to stand aside amid allegations that he paid his family out of public funds for little or no work. with me is dr rainbow murray, from the school of politics and international relations at queen mary university of london. and i should they made it clear he

was not going to run. as a result the republicans were in a corner. they had to go with a man facing corruption allegations. they are a bit of a bind, juppe was referred to as planned b and if they start to look for a planned seed they are looking even more desperate. that would be nicolas sarkozy. i do not think he is coming back either. it would've been a lesser—known figure who could have offered a clean break. but a0 days to the election, they had a primary election and bringing in someone else who did not even stand in someone else who did not even standard that would just be too little and too does not help the republicans that the man that they are now backing, though they will give come and dance to him, made it clear if he became the subject of a formal investigation he would stand

down and anyone who became the subject of a formal investigation should stand down, the hypocrisy and some would say the arrogance shines through. it is also evident in the initial allegations because he is preaching a policy platform of austerity whilst at the same time living a very cushy lifestyle allegedly funded by the taxpayers. so hypocrisy there as well. his argument is that is what he calls a political assassination which is to say that he thinks being set up, that the timing of the indictment two days before the close of nominations was done deliberately to destroy his election campaign. so he is trying to turn tables and said people are trying to steal the election from me and i'm not going to let them. on whose orders? it varies on thejudges, on to let them. on whose orders? it varies on the judges, on socialists, the media cummings lashing out in all directions trying to find anyone to blame other than himself. without any traction with the voters, does it feel like it as far as the polls are concerned? he is doing badly in

the polls, he has dropped about eight percentage points since the scandal broke. he's now looking like you cannot qualify for the second round which means he will be eliminated. but he still has a loyal following, people are much more likely to sympathise with his arguments if they also sympathise with his policies. people have a core electorate that will stand by him, he managed to rally some a0,000 people yesterday in paris. to come and support him. but a lot of the voters who were not entirely certain about him now have the excuse to look elsewhere. marine le pen and emmanuel macron, are they laughing all the way to the polling booth? quite possibly and that was also a risk if fossil fuel was forced to stand down that many of his voters might gojim marine le pen feeling he had been set up and feeling inclined to follow his anti—system lead. at the moment is looking good for the manual macron. do you see republicans, which weighed you see them splitting then if they decide

that actually, it is not going to be francois fillon, but those on the right who do not fancy him now, which weighed you think that they will split, for someone who served ina will split, for someone who served in a special government or someone who is way to the right? the problem with the republican party is there not a uniform block. and so some will go one way and some the other. i think those who would have voted for fossil i think those who would have voted forfossilfuel i think those who would have voted for fossil fuel could be tempted i think those who would have voted forfossilfuel could be tempted by marine le pen. those who preferred alainjuppe marine le pen. those who preferred alain juppe would move marine le pen. those who preferred alainjuppe would move almost inevitably towards a manual macron. and the republicans are fundamentally divided in terms of ideology. thank you for coming in. now it's one of the busiest sections of road in the country — and air pollution levels there regularly exceed the safe limit — but until two years ago, the dartford crossing was classified by the government as a rural road. the error means the levels of pollution there have been routinely ignored. crucially, it also means the results haven't been passed on to the european union, which can impose fines when safety

levels are breached. sarah smith has the story. 50 millionjourneys are made on 50 million journeys are made on the stretch of road every year. the town. go to the south and direct the north have some of the highest percentages of death due to air pollution in the south—east. in da rtford pollution in the south—east. in dartford the council has recorded nitrogen dioxide levels above the safe limits for years. when the town did not appear in the national air quality plan, they were puzzled. then they found out why. we discovered that the tunnel approach road was classed as a rural road and therefore the air monitoring figures they had and that they were using for modelling purposes was incorrect. quite shocking, really. it meant that for years national data on air pollution does not include this incredibly busy stretch of road. whoever decided there was

i'io of road. whoever decided there was no pollution round here must be, probably does not live in dartford. i have two small children and regularly if you live here you will notice that several times a day or a week there is just notice that several times a day or a week there isjust bumper—to—bumper traffic. the crossing and its approach roads are not classed as pa rt approach roads are not classed as part of the motorway but as the a 282. and such roads can count as will appear outside urban areas but clearly that is not the case here. jim sutton lived close to the crossing believes it exacerbated the respiratory problems which afflicted his late wife. the air pollution around here certainly did not help her. she used to say i wish that we could move. scientists from kings couege could move. scientists from kings college have carried out their own monitoring. the european legal limit was broken on three days. and that was broken on three days. and that was primarily because the pollution which the road is producing everyday with the traffic on it was joined up with the traffic on it was joined up with pollution coming overfrom

with the traffic on it was joined up with pollution coming over from the continent. the department for environment says the department for transport made the classification, the department for transport said it was the department for the environment. either way, was the department for the environment. eitherway, is finally being reclassified as urban. now time for a look at the weather news with nick miller. you may have caught passing shower today but most of us have sunshine at some stage and a fair amount of that in evidence in shropshire this afternoon. it could been a different story, this low—pressure gave a glancing blow to south—west england and the channel islands but look how stormy it got in north—west france with the wind close to 120 miles an hour. so we dodge something there and thankfully that low—pressure continues to pull away from the uk. we have showers continued into the mightand rain we have showers continued into the might and rain clipping the north sea tip of aberdeen shire. some rain

for the northern isles. showers speeding through the west of scotla nd speeding through the west of scotland and into the midlands. elsewhere temperatures lower in the countryside and a bit of a frost around going into tomorrow morning for many. but a fine start for most, early showers in the north—west scotla nd early showers in the north—west scotland tend fade. then we look to the west and a weather system coming in here. it will not make too much progress into scotland until the evening but it will bring rain and field mill for a time. and it remains across northern ireland for the afternoon. the rain heading into cornwall and devon at this stage and into south and west wales as well as company by freshening wind. 10 degrees in london but most parts of the uk seeing seven, nine celsius. we ta ke the uk seeing seven, nine celsius. we take that main east across the rest of the uk during tuesday evening and night, some snow on the tops of the hills but especially

into scotland. the bulk of that is gone on wednesday. some is sunny spells of voting elsewhere, quite a blustery day especially in the north of scotland. on thursday a fine start for most but now we take this weather front with cloud and outbreaks of rain lost during the day. a warm front, the leading edge of milderairso day. a warm front, the leading edge of milder air so starting to bring in through thursday and into friday milderair into in through thursday and into friday milder air into the uk and some reaching temperatures into the mid teens. but quite a lot of cloud around. this is an unsettled week, but at times, brighter moments as well. and turning a bit milder. this is bbc news. the headlines at 8pm: president trump has signed a new executive order, imposing a ban on travellers from six mainly muslim countries. iraq is no longer included. like every nation, the united states has a right to control who enters our country and to keep

out those who would do us harm. concerns for thousands of jobs at vauxhall‘s uk plants after it's sold to a french car maker. we've all been worried, of course. we're all going to be worried. we've all got families, and i myself have been here for nearly 30 years. disbelief. no one really knows what is going on. again, we haven't been told. security services explain how they've prevented 13 potential terror attacks in the past four years. in france, republicans back francois fillon as their candidate in next month's presidential election, despite him losing support