:00:00. > :00:08.The DUP and Sinn Fein have welcomed a possible early
:00:09. > :00:12.But there are concerns that a polling campaign will harm
:00:13. > :00:14.the talks on restoring power sharing at Stormont,
:00:15. > :00:17.Our political correspondent, which are due to resume next week.
:00:18. > :00:24.Enda McClafferty got reaction to the Prime Minister's statement.
:00:25. > :00:31.Just when we thought the political picture couldn't get any more
:00:32. > :00:35.complicated. Up stepped the Prime Minister. I have just chaired a
:00:36. > :00:40.meeting of the cabinet where we agreed that the government should
:00:41. > :00:46.call a general election to be held on the 8th of June. Theresa May's
:00:47. > :00:50.U-turn on a snap election caught many by surprise. She believes it
:00:51. > :00:55.will bring stability to Brexit. Others fear it will only add to the
:00:56. > :00:58.instability here. This does leave Northern Ireland very much in the
:00:59. > :01:01.lurch, particularly with respect to the ongoing talks process, and it
:01:02. > :01:06.would be a disgrace if anybody possible to now walk away from the
:01:07. > :01:09.talks table because they were interested in fighting election
:01:10. > :01:13.campaigns. That isn't how the DUP see it. We welcome the election, we
:01:14. > :01:18.see it as a chance because she has talked about this being an election
:01:19. > :01:22.about the union and we see it as a chance of reinforcing that unionist
:01:23. > :01:26.message in Northern Ireland. And election has been part of sins
:01:27. > :01:32.trained's trip for weeks. But not at Westminster. The party says they
:01:33. > :01:37.should use this to deliver anti-Brexit messages. We want people
:01:38. > :01:42.to say again to British by Mr are against press it, we are for special
:01:43. > :01:45.status in Ireland, we are for a poll or a referendum on Irish unity and
:01:46. > :01:49.that is what she should be concentrating on when it comes to
:01:50. > :01:52.Ireland. The Irish government says it is also concerned about the
:01:53. > :01:57.impact and other election will have on the talks at Stormont. So, too,
:01:58. > :02:03.are the SDLP. The parties still have a chance to conclude the talks,
:02:04. > :02:06.conclude negotiations and build on the progress that has been made and
:02:07. > :02:10.wants to make the most of the mandate that they all got, at the
:02:11. > :02:14.start of March, whether all parties are minded to do that we have to
:02:15. > :02:19.wait and see. Two years ago unionist celebrated after a pact between the
:02:20. > :02:29.DUP and the Ulster Unionists brought into new MPs. One for each party. So
:02:30. > :02:32.will we see the same tactic again? I want to see 18 Northern Ireland MPs
:02:33. > :02:34.sitting on the benches of Westminster, arguing for the people
:02:35. > :02:39.of Northern Ireland. What about those who weren't decide the
:02:40. > :02:42.outcome? That shadow who will decide the outcome as much as they feel
:02:43. > :02:45.about returned to the polls for the second time in four months? I'm
:02:46. > :02:48.pretty disturbed sleep quite honest with you because of thing most
:02:49. > :02:51.people are sick to death of elections. Another election, is a
:02:52. > :02:55.deadly much question what is again to make much difference but at the
:02:56. > :03:02.last one didn't. It didn't seem to do much for you. Bring it on. We've
:03:03. > :03:06.nothing to fear. We're fed up with Sinn Fein shouting this and shouting
:03:07. > :03:09.that, so bring it on. Just let the unionist parties get their act
:03:10. > :03:13.together and stop doing their dirty washing in public. The election has
:03:14. > :03:16.been formally called yet although already parties here are getting
:03:17. > :03:21.into position. One side says it's a fight over Brexit the other a battle
:03:22. > :03:26.for the union. One thing for sure, another bitter election campaign
:03:27. > :03:27.here will do little to enhance prospects are power-sharing.
:03:28. > :03:32.Earlier, I asked our political editor how an election campaign
:03:33. > :03:38.would affect the power-sharing talks at Stormont.
:03:39. > :03:41.The Secretary of State James Brokenshire has released a written
:03:42. > :03:45.statement this afternoon and in it he says that he is going to fast
:03:46. > :03:51.track legislation through which will allow collection of rates here, and
:03:52. > :03:55.also set a new deadline effectively saying that the Executive should be
:03:56. > :03:59.formed in early May. He maintains that there is a duty on the local
:04:00. > :04:02.party to form an executive, that discussions will continue and that
:04:03. > :04:05.this forthcoming general election should not continue to change their
:04:06. > :04:08.approach was the pieces to be the only politician who sings it won't,
:04:09. > :04:12.because when you talk to the local parties they say well, even with the
:04:13. > :04:15.best will in the world, parties are not going to cut compromises,
:04:16. > :04:19.sensitive deals which could put them under pressure within their own
:04:20. > :04:23.grassroots at a time when they are going out and selecting candidates
:04:24. > :04:26.and campaigning and going into TV studios to batter each other, around
:04:27. > :04:31.the head, over these issues. So it seems to me that we have already had
:04:32. > :04:35.two foul rounds of negotiations and Theresa May has pulled the rug from
:04:36. > :04:40.under James Brokenshire's feet. That is focused on the Commons. Remind us
:04:41. > :04:44.about Northern Ireland's current representation there. We have 18
:04:45. > :04:49.MPs. Some of whom take their places in the Commons, some of whom are in
:04:50. > :04:57.abstention. The last election was an Maine 2015, and we returned with the
:04:58. > :05:00.DUP as the largest party, maintaining eight seats there. They
:05:01. > :05:04.lost a seat but they won one elsewhere. Sinn Fein Astley lost a
:05:05. > :05:09.seat as we will explain in a moment. The SDLP held onto all their three
:05:10. > :05:12.seats, and the independence there is Lady Sylvia Ahern but the big
:05:13. > :05:15.winners out of election where the two Ulster Unionists because they
:05:16. > :05:20.had lost their niche completely at Westminster but they were able to
:05:21. > :05:25.get to MPs. The DUP leader Arlene Foster said the -- said today that
:05:26. > :05:28.this would be an opportunity to vote for the union. There was no unionist
:05:29. > :05:32.pact in the recent assembly election and what is likely in June? A
:05:33. > :05:35.different dynamic potentially come in this election, and obviously the
:05:36. > :05:39.last election Mike Nesbitt tried to do it as an opposition versus
:05:40. > :05:43.government election and he got very close to the SDLP. This time around
:05:44. > :05:46.we are in the potential for unionist pact. We remind ourselves that in
:05:47. > :05:50.the last Westminster election there was a unionist pact in a couple of
:05:51. > :05:55.seats, and it paid dividends. Tom Elliott got a manner south Tyrone,
:05:56. > :06:00.he got that seat with the backing of both his own Ulster Unionist Party
:06:01. > :06:04.and the DUP. In return the dusty Unionists that aside in east Belfast
:06:05. > :06:11.allowing Gavin Robinson to take the seat. That Doctor Naomi Long out of
:06:12. > :06:17.the Commons. Looking at the unionist and battle grounds, if the election
:06:18. > :06:22.in June is focusing on there? We have to see what happens in overall
:06:23. > :06:26.pact, and how the leaders face the dilemmas. Potentially we could see
:06:27. > :06:29.in an area like south and trim a battle between Unionists. That was
:06:30. > :06:33.the seat that Danny Callaghan won last time round against the DUP, and
:06:34. > :06:37.the DUP now seek to come back, depending really on the overall kind
:06:38. > :06:41.of relationship between the Unionists. In terms of nationalists,
:06:42. > :06:46.we saw in the last election Sinn Fein putting on quite a fewer votes,
:06:47. > :06:49.they will obviously try to retake the manner south Tyrone, and here
:06:50. > :06:54.are a couple of seats where they might try to take further inroads,
:06:55. > :06:58.polling well in both foil and southbound. The SDLP might hang on.
:06:59. > :07:02.This is a different kind of election, they will be able to say
:07:03. > :07:06.where our MPs will take their seats and vote against a hard Brexit, and
:07:07. > :07:08.also an election where we have seen in the past those kind of seats,
:07:09. > :07:22.unionist tactical voting before. Police officers investigating a
:07:23. > :07:26.spate of attacks in Larne have arrested two men on a attempt to
:07:27. > :07:29.endanger life. Last night, a car was set alight
:07:30. > :07:32.after it was reversed through the window of a hairdressers
:07:33. > :07:34.on Main Street. A family home and seven other cars
:07:35. > :07:37.were also targeted over the weekend. The Police say they believe
:07:38. > :07:40.all of the incidents may be linked. A specialist police unit
:07:41. > :07:42.is investigating the rape of an 18-year-old woman
:07:43. > :07:44.in Belfast City Centre. The attack was in Gloucester Street
:07:45. > :07:46.at around two o'clock The Police want help
:07:47. > :07:50.in identifying a particular man. He's described as thin,
:07:51. > :07:52.aged about 19, five feet seven inches tall, clean shaven
:07:53. > :07:54.with short dark hair. The Police are also keen to hear
:07:55. > :07:57.from anyone who saw a distressed woman in the area at around the time
:07:58. > :08:00.of the attack. And in Football, Crusaders remain
:08:01. > :08:03.one point clear at the top of the Irish Premiership
:08:04. > :08:04.after beating Coleraine But, Linfield remain hot
:08:05. > :08:07.on their heels after All of tonight's results
:08:08. > :08:14.are on the sport website. And with the weather
:08:15. > :08:25.now, here's Cecilia. Hello, good evening. Lots of cloud
:08:26. > :08:29.over the next couple of days but it should start to feel a little
:08:30. > :08:34.milder. Tonight cloud will hang around, no frost like last night
:08:35. > :08:37.that some spots of light rain and drizzle here and there which will
:08:38. > :08:42.linger into tomorrow morning. At least temperatures are on the rise.
:08:43. > :08:45.Tomorrow morning if it is back to work a bit of dampness here and
:08:46. > :08:49.there, quite misty and murky and not the prettiest of starts to the day.
:08:50. > :08:52.It should improve though later in the day, and a loss of cloud and
:08:53. > :08:55.stamped drizzle weather over southern Scotland and northern
:08:56. > :09:00.England and some of that will head down to Dublin, but down towards the
:09:01. > :09:03.Cork coast, brightness and some sunshine and warmth across London,
:09:04. > :09:09.the south of England and Midlands and subways, cooler and brining up
:09:10. > :09:13.in south-west Scotland. Cloud this afternoon -- tomorrow afternoon,
:09:14. > :09:17.damp weather edging away so places become drier, and a bit brighter, as
:09:18. > :09:22.temperatures in one or two spots could well get up to 13 or 14
:09:23. > :09:25.degrees. It will stay mild on Thursday and in fact we could see
:09:26. > :09:28.temperatures in the mid teens, and will be quite cloudy again
:09:29. > :09:32.generally. Temperatures fall as he had to the weekend but overall our
:09:33. > :09:35.gardens won't see a lot of rain over the next few days. Having said that
:09:36. > :09:38.there will be one or two showers around on Thursday but also some
:09:39. > :09:43.brightness in a lot of the time being dried, temperatures in some
:09:44. > :09:47.spot at 15 degrees. On Friday, we will see a weather front come
:09:48. > :09:50.through, bringing a bit of damp drizzly weather and as it moves
:09:51. > :09:53.through it will start to cool off, winds moving back into the
:09:54. > :09:54.north-west so cooler, but brighter this weekend.
:09:55. > :09:58.Our next BBC Newsline is at six 25 in the morning
:09:59. > :10:01.With unprecedented access to our prison service,
:10:02. > :10:04.and some of the men and women serving time,
:10:05. > :10:09.BBC Northern Ireland reveals the stories behind bars.