fligfait itsn fligfiit itsn mn" a m hour flight to australia, she is en route to florida for her next tournament —— a0 hour flight. is en route to florida for her next tournament —— a0 hourflight. a little tired perhaps growing reputation. just before we 90, growing reputation. just before we go, to bring you up to date with arsenal against ac milan, the whistle for half—time about to go at san siro and ac milan haven't had a shot on target but arsenal have come close to a second. henrik mikhitaryan nearly getting a second, and a free kick for ac milan by then the other end and there was henrik mikhitaryan, clipping the crossbar. that's all from sportsday. we'll have more throughout the evening. the uk government has set a budget the northern ireland in the absence ofa the northern ireland in the absence of a power—sharing administration at stormont and includes £a10 million

of the £1 billion package negotiated by the dup in return for its backing of the conservatives at westminster. let's go live to our northern ireland political editor mark devenport. mark, presumably it was inevitable that the secretary of state was going to have to step in, presumably government departments needing some kind of clarity about their finances? that is quite right, their finances? that is quite right, the stormont assembly is in mothballs at the moment, none of the politicians are meeting and we have those talks that collapsed last month and after the collapse, officials in the stormont departments were really getting quite frantic, needing that clarity with the start of a new financial year looming, so karen bradley, the secretary of state, has stepped in that. she has set a budget which will allow for around £10 billion worth of expenditure over the course of the next financial year, which has been eased by that confidence and supply money, although these remain tight times, so there are still complaints from some of the

parties. it is as you say slightly controversial, £a10 million per £1 billion package negotiated by the dup as part of the deal for supporting the conservatives. how does that go down with people there? people presumably support the idea of having more per northern ireland? i think there will be a welcome from the voters for the fact the dup has negotiated that £a00 million. half will go towards infrastructure, roads and so on and the other half mainly towards health underbid towards education. i think that'll be welcome notches by dup supporters but by others, but the fact we don't have a political agreement been so far as the politicians are concerned, there is a bit of carping and people saying it is being used to plug the gaps and the fact that these are tight times is being shown by the fact that the regional rate, one of the methods stormont uses to raise its own revenue, has been raised above the rate of inflation,

a change to the policy that previous local governments had adopted whereby they froze it and kept it down to the rate of inflation. talking of the politicians, is this seen as another step towards direct rule? how close are we to getting any kind of agreement? it seems to have gone backwards. it certainly does. in a speech today, arlene foster said she couldn't see any possibility of a return to devolution in the coming weeks and months. i think what is happening is the uk government is trying to handle this sensitivity, it doesn't wa nt to handle this sensitivity, it doesn't want to announce a full—scale return to direct rule for the fear that some parties, particularly sinn fein and the sdlp, the irish nationalist, will walk away from stormont altogether so we are seeing what is termed a glide path towards direct rule with more decisions like this budget being made by london ministers but trying to make it without declaring they have taken over completely. mark devenport in stormont, thank you very much indeed. let's return to our main story.

the home secretary has described the nerve agent attack on two russians in salisbury as a "brazen and reckless act". amber rudd said the pair had been the targets of an "attempted murder in the most cruel and public way." this was attempted murder in the most cruel and public way. people are right to want to know who to hold to account. but if we are to be rigorous in this investigation, we must avoid speculation and allow the police to carry on their investigation. joining me from southampton is doctor paul lemley, senior lecturer in politics and international relations at the university of portsmouth. it was interesting listening to amber rudd and contrast in her words with those of borisjohnson, and contrast in her words with those of boris johnson, the and contrast in her words with those of borisjohnson, the foreign secretary, a few days ago. she was much more cautious and saying again and again that we have to wait for the evidence before we point the finger of blame. she is absolutely

right, it is very important to know exactly what is involved, the circumstances. it is very important to be clear as to who is responsible because at the moment, a lot of people are talking about connections with russia and the russian government and really, this isn't helping the situation, certainly isn't helping the current state of russian — uk relations, which is already at a pretty low ebb, so let's have the evidence first before we start deciding what possible reactions or russian government connection. it was clear that many mps were pretty happy to draw the conclusion that it was probably president putin and moscow that was behind this because, as they would say, they have got form. well, yes, but then that is just adding to the hysteria. the last ten years, we have had a real deepening of the bad relations between russia and the uk, which isn't helping either side. most russians certainly that i know

one close relationship with the uk, they want to do business," and academic relations, so really, adding to this spiral of cold war tensions isn't really helping anybody. so i think that we need to rain backa anybody. so i think that we need to rain back a bit on the kind of rhetoric and just lets see what has happened. what are the sessions for the british government? amber rudd is saying that if it is shown that moscow is behind this, we will respond robustly. what options do they have? we know about sanctions, curving the travel and visas are prominent russian figures, is there anything else the uk can do? prominent russian figures, is there anything else the uk can dwm prominent russian figures, is there anything else the uk can do? it is difficult because in many ways, sanctions can be counter—productive. an economy tends to adjust itself to sanctions and russia is already in a situation where it is feeling under threat both internally and externally, so in many ways, and

negative response can actually feed into that view of russia under attack. also, you know,... 0bviously, attack. also, you know,... obviously, there has to be a response, we can't have people wandering around salisbury throwing nerve agents but that is why it is important to be clear who is responsible. and even in russia, evenif responsible. and even in russia, even if there was a link with russia thatis even if there was a link with russia that is established, we have to bear in mind that russian politics is much more complicated than people think. there are different factions, there are business groups. it is not necessarily the case that putin is the great manipulator in control of everything. so it would be important, if there is a russian connection, to get a corporation at important, if there is a russian conni —— on, to get a corporation at important, if there is a russian conni —— to get a corporation, on at important, if there is a russian conni —— to get a corporation, or at establish governmen sue; government sue; what goverr so what i'm gag what goverr so what i'm egg is lat at the moment in s-ite of caution at the moment in spite of the heightened rhetoric. andjust briefly, do the sanctions have any

kind of impact on putin at all, do you think? well, not really, because as you say, they can feed into this kind of nationalist rhetoric. there was an election coming up at the moment and that all helps in terms of cementing popularity. so there is littl’e’ "' ' you of of cementing popularity. so there is littl’e’ "' ' you could of has so hasfi‘fiif , , 7m ~ 77—

a? in? particularly, axe—w w . ' some around. still some wintry showers north—west and around. still some w arriving wers around. still some w arriving wer g. go north—west then the cloud w

but ifs; good 7” w but ifs; good see! ~ ~ , —~ w b to es; good 52; ~ ~ , ~ w b to e iizj‘md se; ~ not ~ , ~