Northern Ireland should be part of the same customs union and single market as the Republic after Brexit, a former Secretary of State is expected to say later.

JUSTICE Heather Hallett reviewed a Government assurance scheme for fugitive republicans linked to almost 300 murders.

Yesterday, as the hope that we on these islands might live together without the ghosts of history colouring our every interaction came closer to being a vibrant reality, two vignettes pointed to the complexity of our shared history.

Calls for Bloody Sunday soldiers to be granted amnesty on the back of a deal for IRA on-the-runs are inevitable and predictable, a senior Northern Ireland politician has said.

Calls for Bloody Sunday soldiers to be granted amnesty on the back of a deal for IRA on-the-runs are inevitable and predictable, a senior politician in the North has said.

Former secretary of state for Northern Ireland Peter Hain has said it is risible for key politicians to claim they had no knowledge so-called comfort letters were sent to IRA on-the-runs.

Northern Ireland Attorney General John Larkin twice rejected attempts to settle his High Court action against Peter Hain before they agreed to halt the proceedings in advance of a full hearing, the former Secretary of State has claimed.

A contempt of court case taken against British Labour MP Peter Hain over criticisms he made of a judge in the North will not proceed, the High Court in Belfast ruled today.

David Cameron is “happy to talk” with other parties to ensure Britain gets a “strong and stable” Conservative-led British government, a senior Tory said today.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was fighting to keep Labour in power today by tempting the Liberal Democrats into a coalition government as Britain seemed set for a hung parliament.

SENIOR Labour figures were last night at odds over calls for the party’s supporters to vote tactically in order to keep the Tories out of power.

The Parades Commission in the North was back to full strength today just as the marching season approached.

The British government put on hold 18 months ago preparations for a public inquiry into the controversial murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, it emerged today.

The “absolutely historic role” played by the Rev Ian Paisley in restoring devolved government was praised by former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain tonight.

The body which adjudicates on contentious parades in the North is today looking for a new member after the Law Lords declared the appointment by Peter Hain of one of its members was unlawful.

AS THE Taoiseach faces a death by a thousand cuts, he can take some consolation in the fact that he cannot have too many more to endure.

A Government legal challenge over the North's former Victims’ Commissioner should be dropped after Peter Hain’s resignation, campaigners said today.

Peter Hain today resigned as British Work and Pensions Secretary, saying he had “no alternative” after the Electoral Commission referred a probe into his deputy leadership campaign to the police.

The Secretary of State for Wales, Peter Hain is to resign to clear his name in the controversy over donations to his deputy leadership campaign.

UK Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain is to face a full parliamentary “sleaze” inquiry over his failure to declare £103,000 (€135,555) in donations to his Labour deputy leadership campaign, it was confirmed today.

Gordon Brown was today accused of “dithering” over the latest Labour funding controversy as embattled Cabinet minister Peter Hain clung to his political career.

Peter Hain said today he would "get on with" his Cabinet jobs, insisting it was "absurd" to suggest he had tried to cover up donations to his campaign for Labour's deputy leadership.

The pressure on former Northern Ireland Secretary, Peter Hain, intensified today after an official complaint was made to the Westminster “sleaze” watchdog.

PRESSURE intensified on ITV bosses to take responsibility for the spate of phone-in scandals yesterday after chairman Michael Grade admitted he would have resigned if he had been chief executive at the time of the deceit.

The appointment of a police widow as the North’s interim victims’ commissioner was designed to placate the DUP, a report confirmed today.

A former Canadian Mountie is to become the new policing Ombudsman for the North.

A former Church of Ireland primate and a one time Catholic priest were today appointed by the government to draw up proposals about how the North should come to terms with its bloody past.

Gordon Brown will be under pressure to make a substantial appointment to the post of Northern Secretary following reports that Paddy Ashdown turned down an offer to take the job, it was claimed today.

The Northern Secretary is to launch an independent rethink on dealing with conflict deaths.

A Stormont minister could lose his or her place at the cabinet table next year if a new policing and justice department is created, it emerged today.

A former Sinn Féin mayor of Derry is to join the party’s first three Assembly representatives on the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

Departing Oversight Commissioner Al Hutchinson today revealed his dismay at the continued delay in building Northern Ireland's new police training college.

It could have been a humdrum day in any parliament, with low-key speeches in a hushed, panelled and pillared room.

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain today signed the order paving the way for a new era of power-sharing in the North.

Devolution will be here to stay when it returns to the North, Peter Hain predicted today.

Forced marriage should be outlawed in the North along with England and Wales, Northern Secretary Peter Hain said today.

Former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown is to head a review of parading in the North, it was announced today.

DUP leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Féin's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness have jointly called on the Northern Secretary Peter Hain to quit his offices before devolution returns to the North.

NORTHERN Secretary Peter Hain last night insisted a final settlement was now at hand after the ground-breaking deal between the DUP and Sinn Féin to share power.

THE countdown to what should have been the North’s devolution day has seen frantic diplomatic activity from Belfast to Berlin, via Downing Street.

Ian Paisley could hold his first face-to-face meeting with Gerry Adams in a bid to keep devolution hopes alive in the North, it was claimed tonight.

DUP sources in the North are claiming they had a pre-arranged deal with Downing Street over their refusal to meet tomorrow's deadline on devolution.

The Northern Secretary Peter Hain has not ruled out extending the devolution deadline but says the parties must themselves reach a consensus on it.

Nationalist parties in the north have tonight criticised suggestions that the North's new power-sharing Executive could have an eight week gap between its first and second meetings.