A snap election for the Northern Ireland Assembly has been called for Thursday March 2nd.

It's after the assembly officially failed to elect a new First or Deputy First Minister today - and missed its seven-day deadline for appointing a new administration.

The failure to pick successors to Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness led to the election being called this evening by the Northern secretary James Brokenshire.

The DUP selected Arlene Foster for a third term as First Minister, when the Assembly met at lunchtime today - the first time it has met since Martin McGuinness's resignation a week ago.

However Sinn Féin said it would not put someone forward to serve as Deputy - meaning neither job could be filled.

The collapse of the Stormont Executive will add further complications to Ireland’s response to Brexit.

Over the weekend British prime minister Theresa May let it be known that she favours a so-called Hard Brexit if that’s what it takes to get the UK out of the EU.

That would mean pulling out of both the EU’s customs union AND the single market - making it much harder to maintain an open border along the North.

Ireland would have hoped to get the North on board to resist that prospect, but a snap election - which cannot be held for at least six weeks - will leave a major power vacuum in Belfast, just as Brexit is about to begin.

Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly filed this report for Today FM's National Lunchtime News: