PM Gordon Brown in first NI visit

Mr Brown will attend the meeting at Stormont

Gordon Brown is expected to be in Belfast next Monday on his first NI visit as prime minister.

The BBC has learned that a meeting of the British-Irish Council is to be held at Stormont.

It will be the first time the British Irish Council has taken place in Northern Ireland.

The DUP has always insisted relations between Northern Ireland and the rest of the British Isles must be on a par with those between north and south.

A meeting of the North South Ministerial Council is also expected to go ahead on Tuesday.

The DUP has been pushing for senior Westminster politicians, including the prime minister, to attend such a meeting.

Membership of the council comprises representatives of the Irish and British governments and of the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, together with representatives of the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey.