it is gorgeous here in portrush.a in terms of what they want to hear from the politicians area in terms of what they want to hearfrom the politicians in area in terms of what they want to hear from the politicians in the run—up to the election. we have some guests which we will pick up on the way. neal is an economist. give us the contest cost of northern ireland compared to the uk? it is a fantastic region, great quality of life, strong economic performance in a number of clusters as in agri— food, engineering, tv. but structural wea knesses food, engineering, tv. but structural weaknesses have held it back. its economic performance would be similarto back. its economic performance would be similar to the welsh and the north—east of england economy. be similar to the welsh and the north-east of england economy. what would make a difference? certainly the brexit issues, but we need an ability to grow more businesses. the private sector is strong but too small. we need a good private sector to fund the public services

shropshire, bit of cloud around, on the edge of the cloud, much more cloud around northern parts, portrushas been affecting scotland, even here, some warm sunshine as well, and the rain, if you heavy bursts, heading slowly up to the northern isles, clearer skies, following on behind, except for wales, the south—west and increasingly the channel islands, where we will see a lot more low cloud around, misty weather and hill fog. quite chilly overnight, clearer skies in rural parts of scotland, fine day on the way for most of us. that of a different look to the weather, omit south wales and the south—west, the channel islands, grey picture, and maybe a few spots of drizzle as well as mist and hill fog. moving to the south—east, east anglia, bright and sunny start, cloud coming through the midlands, keeping an eye on that, much more sunshine as we move north, the rain taking a little while to clear away from shetlands. apart from one or two showers, from scotland in the north, probably going to be dry. on the whole, a decent day for most of us, more cloud, south wales, south—west of england al