David Ford announced his resignation as Leader of the Alliance Party this week, with Deputy Leader Naomi Long taking over as Interim Leader. Mr Ford had served as Party Leader for 15 years; he will continue to serve as an MLA for South Antrim. He said it was “an appropriate time to hand over to a new leader who will lead the party forward in the next stage of its development and growth”. The party will elect his successor on Wednesday 26 October.

Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir appeared in front of the Assembly’s Finance Committee and insisted he has no questions to answer over allegations linking him with the recent Daithí McKay-Jamie Bryson NAMA ‘coaching’ scandal. Political rivals had called for him to stand aside as Minister, but he said he is “totally relaxed, totally chill-axed” about the situation.

Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness claimed the UK government is on a “collision course” with the EU following the Brexit vote, and Northern Ireland would be “collateral damage”. Meanwhile, the Chancellor, Philip Hammond offered a new guarantee to continue payments of any multi-year EU grants secured by British businesses and organisations before withdrawal.

The pound sterling fell to a three-year low against the Euro on worries over the UK’s prospects outside the EU. Prime Minister Theresa May recently announced the Brexit process will begin by the end of March 2017. HSBC described the currency as “the de facto official opposition to the government’s policies.” The bank said sterling used to be a relatively simple currency which used to trade on cyclical events and data; now it has become a political and structural currency.

Following the release of a tape from 2005 which showed Donald Trump make derogatory comments about women, numerous senior Republicans – including former Republican presidential candidate John McCain and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice – have withdrawn support for his candidature. Ahead of Monday’s next presidential debate between Mr Trump and Hillary Clinton, and with less than a month to go before the election on 8 November, he insists he won’t drop out of the race.