20/03/2017 North West Tonight


20/03/2017

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Merseyrail is expressing concern that the next strike by

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the RMT rail union will target the Grand National at Aintree.

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Talks broke down today between the company

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and the union in the dispute over driver-only trains.

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The RMT says it will be taking further industrial action,

:00:22.:00:25.

but hasn't yet decided when that will be.

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Earlier I spoke to our reporter, Mark Edwardson, and asked him why

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The two sides met this morning to try to bring this dispute

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about driver-only trains on the Merseyrail network to an end,

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but they broke down, with both sides blaming each other.

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The company accused the union of going into the talks

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with pre-conditions, and now it says it fears strikes

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will target the Grand National meeting at Aintree in April.

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But the RMT has accused Merseyrail of refusing to discuss what it says

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are the real issues - staffing, funding and safety -

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saying Merseyrail is determined to bring in driver-only operated

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It will undoubtedly cause immeasurable damage to the event

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and to the economy at large, if the RMT executive

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decide that their next strike is going to be

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I sincerely hope that they think twice about doing that.

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We have tried the talks today, but, as I say, they have been fruitless

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and the company don't want to talk about the issues that

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are at the heart of the dispute, so we have got no alternative

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than to recommend that further industrial action takes place.

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That will be decided by our executive in London

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So, where do the two sides go from here?

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Well, unless something gives, it's likely there will be more

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of what we saw ten days ago, when RMT members walked out for 24

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The RMT says more strikes on the Merseyrail network

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For its part, Merseyrail says it can't understand why the union

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had accepted the invitation to talks today,

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unless, it says, it was simply to maintain appearances.

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Either stand down as the MP for Tatton, or quit your new job

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as editor of the London Evening Standard -

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that's the message from 180,000 people who've signed a petition

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criticising the former Chancellor George Osborne.

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He's been defending himself today after being accused

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of breaking Parliamentary rules about the appointment

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of former Government Ministers to outside jobs.

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George Osborne is facing calls to resign as MP for Tatton

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or forget about editing the London Evening Standard.

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Today, a petition signed by thousands of people was

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handed in to his constiuency office in Knutsford.

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Everybody feels the same way, and we don't feel that he is going

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to be able to give us the time required to do his job as an MP,

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and maybe he should stand down and let somebody

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The former Chancellor takes up his newspaper job in May,

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but, although former ministers are required to tell a parliamentary

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watchdog about outside jobs, he didn't wait for its advice.

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Will the Minister confirm what action the Government intends

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to take against ex-ministers who appear to be in breach

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of the ministerial code on their failure to seek advice

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from ACOBA before accepting an appointment?

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Mr Osborne has several jobs - he gets paid ?650,000 a year

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to advise Blackrock Investment Institute.

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He's made around 780,000 from speeches since leaving office.

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He's also the unpaid chairman of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.

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I thought it was important to be here, although unfortunately we have

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missed the deadline for the Evening Standard.

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In my view, this Parliament is enhanced when we have people

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of different experience take part in our robust debate,

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and when people who have held senior ministerial office continued

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to contribute to the decisions we have to make.

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In a letter, the former chairman of Committee on Standards

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in Public Life, Sir Alistair Graham, said...

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The Committee for Standards in Public Life will be looking

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at this matter again, and it is a matter of ongoing

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concern to the public widely and has been for many years.

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George Osborne will be at the Tatton Conservative

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Assocation's Annual General Meeting later this week, where surely

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he will have to explain how he can be both the voice

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Yunus Mulla, BBC North West Tonight, Knutsford.

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Could George Osborne be in real trouble over these

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After Labour asked an urgent question, he said that he will

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"listen" to what other MPs think, and several Conservative colleagues

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came to the support of Mr Osborne, including former cabinet minister

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Michael Gove, who defended the right of a newspaper proprietor

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But the Government has said it will wait until ACOBA

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publishes what it thinks about the Evening Standard role,

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and that's the point at which we could yet

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We aren't not yet closer to finding out if these rules have been broken.

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The number of people signing the petition criticising

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If the pressure keeps growing, is there a chance he might

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The petition organisers claim it is not party political,

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and they have broad support, but earlier I was told that

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most of the signatures were from outside the constituency,

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and the former Chancellor could easily dismiss this

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But what may concern him more are the views

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of the Tatton Conservative Association.

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I was told by its chairman Don Hammond that the views

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of members are mixed, and it is fair to say

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there will be concerns raised and put to George Osbourne

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This will be an open forum and there will be members who wish to question

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him over the Evening Standard and it is the exchange afterwords which

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determines whether or not he remains the MP for Tatton.

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Police have revealed that a body - found after a house

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fire in Lancaster - was that of an 11-year-old boy.

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Cem Bora was thought to have been trapped

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inside the property on Conniston Road early

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An 18-year-old man and a 12-year-old boy who managed to escape

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And a woman's been found dead at a house in Greater Manchester

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after emergency services were called to a small fire.

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The woman was discovered by firefighters in a property

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on Hayling Road in Sale just before 3pm this afternoon.

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Police say they're keeping an open mind about the cause of death.

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Police trying to recapture escaped killer Shaun Walmsley

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are using the criminal's own money to offer a reward of ?20,000.

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Walmsley is still on the run after being sprung from custody

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during a visit to Aintree hospital last month.

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The reward comes from cash seized after his conviction

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When people see Maria Belton with her two young children

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who have Down's Syndrome, she says they often express

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sympathy, but her message is, there's nothing to be sorry about.

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Tomorrow is International Down's Awareness Day,

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and Maria hopes her experiences can help change attitudes.

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# You'll never know, dear, how much I love you...#

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Meet the Beltons - mum Maria, dad Neil,

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Ellie, who is 14, Joey, two and a half,

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It just so happens that the two youngest members

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There's differences, of course there's differences,

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but there are more similarities, far more similarities,

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between our children and a typical child

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You have decided to go public with your family's story to mark

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International Down's Syndrome Awareness Day tomorrow - why?

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We've had enough of, sort of, people feeling sorry for us,

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because there's nothing to feel sorry for us about.

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In fact, Maria calls Joey and Nancy her miracle babies.

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After Ellie's birth, Maria was told a medical condition

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would prevent her from having any further children -

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When she fell pregnant again, Maria was told the chances of

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She refused offers of tests to make sure.

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If this baby has Down's syndrome, then she'll have Down's syndrome.

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What do you think of your brother and sister?

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Well, I think they're absolutely gorgeous,

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and they are just so funny, and, to be quite honest,

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I don't really think about the whole diagnosis a whole lot.

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You know, just, like, in general, I just think,

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What do you hope for the future with Joseph and Nancy?

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I hope they are treated as equals as much as everybody else.

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I think we just want to make sure the kids can do

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whatever they want to do, and achieve whatever

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they're aiming to achieve, and not be held back

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because of other people's attitudes towards them.

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Dave Guest, BBC North West Tonight, Wirral.

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Now let's take a look at the weather.

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Good evening. I am not sure what you will make of this forecast because

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it is not great. We have stepped into spring but the weather has a

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wintry feel through the next few days, feeling cold there. Wintry

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showers from time to time and they went stronger. Strong wind already.

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Today we started up with a lot of rain but at the end of the rainbow

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there was some sunshine through the afternoon, but the showers are still

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out there now, rising over the high ground bumping into the cold are

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descended this afternoon, after the front this afternoon, wintry showers

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in the forecast. Light covering of snow on the grass tomorrow morning.

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The sun is up early and read of it quickly if it is there. The same for

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a frost as well. Temperatures for towns and cities... Relay, minus one

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Celsius and minus two Celsius. Showers working their way to high

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ground and sleet and snow. Elsewhere spells of sunshine but some wind. To

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the afternoon, after 11 or 12, six or eight Celsius. Tomorrow night is

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a cold one and through the early hours of the morning, there could be

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more snow falling in places. It will not linger and life. Perhaps a light

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dusting and I'm gone. Wednesday gradually improves with April of

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cloud around in Pennine areas and up into Cumbria are always more cloud

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cover and showers. The temperatures are not great at six or seven

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Celsius. After that we settle down through Thursday. The West is best

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with scores of sunshine. Similar story on Friday and largely dried.

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Towards the weekend, things gradually get better.

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outlook for Saturday and Sunday is for something dry and settled, sunny

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spells but a bit on the cool side. This week we are starting off with a

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taste of winter. This is Paul and maritime air, it has come from a

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long way north and will push in lots of showers. The last of any mild air

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gets swept away with the cloud. Tonight we have showers mostly

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across the northern half of the UK, which will turn wintry and that

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means more snow, particularly across Scotland and Northern Ireland,

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perhaps northern England. With those temperatures it is not just snow

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that is a concern, it is icy roads. Quite a few wintry showers still

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packing in across the north and west of Northern Ireland, west of

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Scotland by this stage. Eastern Scotland much more sheltered so it

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should be drier and we may have early sunshine here as

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