Among the winners. Its five oclock. Our main story is the deepening political crisis in Northern Ireland, following the decision by sinn feins Martin Mcguinness to resign as Deputy First Minister. His resignation took effect a few minutes ago. Its the latest twist in the controversy, about the mismanagement of a Green Energy Scheme, which has Cost Hundreds of millions of pounds. Sinn fein have been demanding that the democratic unionist leader Arlene Foster stand aside as First Minister, while her handling of the scheme is investigated, but shes refused. Mr mcguinness says hes demanding an assembly election, so that the people of Northern Ireland can express a view. A short while ago, mr mcguiness gave this statement. Can i say first of all, i have met with the First MinisterArlene Foster at 1. 30, and we had a conversation about what i would like to speak to you about. Over the last ten years, i have worked with dup leaders, and i have reached out to unionists on the basis of equality, respect and reconciliation, and over this period, both the British Government and the dup, in my opinion, have previously undermined the institutions and have eroded public confidence. So we in sinn fein will not tolerate the arrogance of Arlene Foster and the dup. Sinn fein wants equality and respect for everyone and thats what this process must be about. So today i have told Arlene Foster that i have tendered my resignation, effective from 5pm today. So i believe today is the right time to call a halt to the dups arrogance. And speak in a short while ago. Lets try to make sense of this complex situation. Lets speak to our Northern Ireland correspondent stephen walker, who is at stormont. We know he has resigned so where does this leave the First MinisterArlene Foster . She is still in office but powers are limited. Because the two roles are limited. Because the two roles are joined, are limited. Because the two roles arejoined, First Minister are limited. Because the two roles are joined, First Minister and Deputy First Minister, the Power Sharing cannot work now. The resignation by Martin Mcguinness which took effect five minutes ago means the Power Sharing is coming to an end and we are into a timetable seven days and things cannot be resolved within that time there will not be a replacement to Martin Mcguinness, sinn fein have made it clear we are looking at fresh elections to the assembly. Uneasy any circumstances, even when the row about this energy scheme, the row about this energy scheme, the root cause of this, can you see any circumstances which might allow some continuation of this currently assembly set up . If you listen Martin Mcguinness, an incredibly strong statement and he clearly had a meeting with Arlene Foster. The relationship has deteriorated and there is not a lot of trust between the dup and sinn fein. Martin mcguinness made it clear to Arlene Foster in that meeting what he was going to do. Because the trust does not exist and the statement was strong, and because he has tendered his resignation, it would be hard to see how they can put this back together. We have this Ticking Clock towards the end of the seven days, and it seems difficult how they can try and put this back together. I mentioned the fact that the controversy is about the Big Overspend On The Green And Recycla Ble overspend on the green and Recyclable Energy scheme. Is it all to do with that . Is that exclusively the picture . What other elements are there in this breakdown of trust . There are other elements. It is mainly to do with the handling of this renewable scheme. Sinn fein say it has been handled badly and they are it has been handled badly and they a re clearly it has been handled badly and they are clearly saying that Arlene Foster, enterprise minister at the time when the scheme went ahead, they say she should stand aside while an investigation takes place. There are Major Concerns because it is possible this could have cost the Northern Ireland executive as much as £400 million. That is at the heart of the thing, but there are other things like equality. There is theissue other things like equality. There is the issue of Irish Language, clearly a big issue. Also funding was withdrawn from one of the Irish Language groups before christmas. That has set a lot of people within the Republican Movement to be upset. There are a series of things gnawing away at their relationship between dup and sinn fein. We mentioned the sinn fein standpoint, stephen. What is the word from the office of Arlene Foster . The dup in the last hour or so, a representative said people will be puzzled by what Martin Mcguinness has done. The dup say, we were on the verge of agreeing to an enquiry and agreed to an investigation. People say, we had an election to stormont sometime ago within recent memory, so stormont sometime ago within recent memory, so why do we need this new election . He said people will be puzzled today by sinn feins reaction. Thank you for bringing us up to date in belfast. The Health Secretaryjeremy hunt has been addressing mps on the state of the nhs during the winter period of high demand. Earlier today he acknowledged there were problems in some hospitals and urged people not to go to a e unless there was an emergency. But he said he rejected the claim from the red cross that the nhs was in the midst of a humanitarian crisis because of overstretched a e departments. He told the House Of Commons that the tuesday after christmas was the busiest day in the history of the nhs and that temporary measures will be put in place to deal with the crisis. He added there are needed to be, and this is significant, a public discussion about the real purpose of a e. There is nowhere outside the uk that comets there is nowhere outside the uk that co m ets to there is nowhere outside the uk that comets to all patients that we will sort out any health need within four hours. 0nly sort out any health need within four hours. Only four other countries, new zealand, sweden, australia and canada, have similar national standards. These are generally less stringent than ours. This government is committed to maintaining and delivering that vital for our commitment to patients. But since it was announced in 2000, there are nearly 9 million more visits to our a es. Up to 30 of them, nhs england estimate, do not need to be there. The time is continuing to rise. If we will protect our for our standard, we need to be clear it is a promise to sort out all Urgent Health problems within four hours but not all health problems, however minor. That was part of the statement made by the Health Secretaryjeremy hunt mpsa by the Health Secretaryjeremy hunt mps a short while ago in the commons. Lets talk to doctor taj hassan, the president of the royal couege hassan, the president of the Royal College of emergency medicine, at leeds general infirmary. Thank you for talking to us today. Your initial response to the government reaction on the state of the service today, what would you say . Iam i am delighted that the Secretary Of State has recognised that our systems a re state has recognised that our systems are under a state of acute distress due to increasing demand. I would say that the state of distress has been going on for a number of months if not years and the main problems are unfortunately patients that we have seen in our department who are ill and require admission to hospital, and those patients are not able to get into hospital due to overcrowded words and due to problems in the community wards. We do fix the problem where patients who are medically Fit On Hospital Wards to get back into the community, and we need more acute ca re community, and we need more Acute Care Beds and more medical staff and nursing staff for our Emergency Departments. When he says as he did today that there needs to be an open debate about the real nature of amd, the kind of department you know so much about a e. What would you say about a e. What would you say about the debate that he is talking about the debate that he is talking about today . We have been debating this for a long time, and he was suggesting that perhaps 30 of patients are perhaps inappropriate in some way and that they could be diverted away from Emergency Departments. U nfortu nately we have from Emergency Departments. Unfortunately we have been trying to educate our public for 20 or so yea rs, educate our public for 20 or so years, and the fact is that what we need are better systems so that when they attend Emergency Departments, they attend Emergency Departments, they are screened to the right areas. The college believes that ten or 20 of patients could be seen with minor complaint elsewhere. And the location of services would be the location of services would be the best solution for that. The main problem however are not those patients but the main problems are patients but the main problems are patients who are ill and require admission to hospital, and for which resources a re admission to hospital, and for which resources are required both in the community, Acute Care Beds, and start working on our Emergency Departments, as well as other areas that are in the acute care sector. If resources stay where they are and are allocated as they are today, what are your thoughts on the next couple of months and the Pressure Points we have an existing . There was no doubt that by all independent metrics, both from the college, as well as nhs englands own data, our for college, as well as nhs englands own data, ourfor our college, as well as nhs englands own data, our for our performance as well as the number of 12 hour trolley bridges that we have, have risen significantly, and our performance is the worst in over a decade. We entered the winter in the worst possible state and our deteriorate continually, which is why the system is in an acute state of distress. We are doing the best we can we have had constructive discussions with the Secretary Of States office, as well as collea g u es states office, as well as colleagues at nhs england and nhs improvement, i would love to continue those discussions in order to get our systems back to a level of stability, as well being able to deliver the quality of care that our patients expect. Given the pressures, how would you characterise the morale and spirit of stop working with you . The staff who work with you . The nature of the people i work with is fantastic and they work hard and are is fantastic and they work hard and a re loyal to is fantastic and they work hard and are loyal to the nhs. Unfortunately they are being stretched to their limits. That is something that i think we have been trying hard in discussions with the Secretary Of State to be able to get across, because i do not believe that is sustainable if present pushers and overcrowding in our Emergency Departments is allowed to continue. A final point, you mentioned social ca re a final point, you mentioned Social Care Funding, and there have been lots of attempts in different parts of the uk, certainly in wales and scotland, to try to knit together the main health care issues, plus social care, to try to get them to work closely together, more so. What is the nature of the progress in this area, and how important is it . Most independent observers, including the Health Select committee, have identified this as being probably the number one or two item in terms of importance affecting our acute care systems at the moment. We must provide better Social Care Funding in order to allow the patients you are medically fit, that are at present occupying our acute Care Hospital beds, so that they can be back in the community where they and their families wish them to be. I will allow our systems to flow better. It will also allow us to care for our patients in our Emergency Departments better. A pleasure to talk to you. That was doctor taj hassan, president of the Royal College of emergency medicine. He was talking to us from Leeds Hospital trust. The time is 5 13pm. In her first Policy Speech of 2017, theresa may has set out a series of measures to improve the Mental Health care in england, including more training for schools and employers. Its part of what she called real reform for every layer of society, and warned that unless Hidden Injustices were addressed, people would lose trust. Mental Health Experts say whats needed is more funding to improve services. 0ur chief Political Correspondent vicki young is in westminster. She has more details. Theresa may and her government and her advisers are concerned that brexit will dominate everything. She was keen to use her first speech of the new year to talk about other domestic issues. She even talked about what she told a new philosophy, the philosophy of a shared society. David cameron give us shared society. David cameron give us the big society, so what does she mean with this one . She is saying her analysis about the brexit boat is that society, the institutions, they are not working for everybody and people are frustrated. The resentment is building up, and it is that that she wants to deal with. She sees a role for an active government and says it is time for the government to step up and make things better for people, the government to step up and make things betterfor people, and the government to step up and make things better for people, and as our reporter says, nowhere more so than in the case of Mental Health. There are no words for what it does to a family. Shock is not the word, it isjust your whole reality is blown to pieces. In 2014, dr sangeeta mahajans son took his own life. He was just 20 years old and had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Ten weeks later he was dead. They dont discharge patients with adequate information. The doors were closed for us. We were told to either go to a e or your gp and it is the only way we can come back. We had no direct access back to the specialist services. That is wrong. The Prime Minister, theresa may, has described Mental Health care as a burning injustice and today a promise of a major overhaul. Left unaddressed it destroys lives, separates people from each other and deepens the divisions within our society. Changing this goes right to the heart of our humanity, to the heart of the kind of country we are, the attitudes we hold and the values we share. The plans include Mental HealthFirst Aid Training for secondary schools, employers and organisations will also be given Additional Guidance in supporting staff who need to take time off. And there will be greater emphasis on community care. The Prime Minister says this is an historical opportunity to right a wrong but for those on the front line of Mental Health services, funding is a major concern. Mental health is still very underfunded compared to other areas of medicine. It generates probably 20 to 25 of the total Disease Burden of all diseases and yet the funding is ten to i2 in this country. So Little People are talking about it. Four years ago, jake mills tried to end his life and he now runs a Mental Health charity to help others and he says in order for there to be to change there needs to be greater awareness and understanding. Education needs to happen. And without being faceti