Pete Cooper
BBC Local Live

Stephen Mold, the police and crime commissioner for Northamptonshire, continued he would be putting forward a "business case of closer collaboration" between the police and fire service to the Home Office and local councils.

The county has been praised by the government, external for its closer working between the emergency services, including the use of joint response vehicles.

Mr Mold said the fire service had done a "great job protecting communities" and the police service could "look at prevention and learn from that".

He said he would be looking at working closer together in the use of technology and in crime and emergency prevention.

Graham McKechnie
BBC Radio Northampton sport

With Tom Wood starting for England at the weekend, Ben Foden takes over the captaincy for Northampton Saints but also moves to the wing, with George North away with Wales and Jamie Elliot injured.

Saints also bring academy product Lewis Ludlam in back row for tomorrow's match against the Scarlets.

Pete Cooper
BBC Local Live

Earlier we mentioned Northamptonshire Police was creating 46 new jobs, with a number aimed at tackling cyber crime.

Northamptonshire's police and crime commissioner, Stephen Mold, said the roles were needed because "the complexity [of crime] is growing".

He said cyber crime, safeguarding of children and historical sexual abuse cases "required significant investment".

Of the 46 new roles, 30 will be police officers. Mr Mold said it is also ring-fencing community policing, meaning there will be no drop in the numbers of bobbies-on-the-beat.

Although he did not rule out further recruitment, he warned: "The force cannot return to the days of every village having an officer. It's just not realistic because of the challenges the force faces."

A yellow warning of wind, external has been issued from 11:00 on Friday, to 03:00 on Saturday.

The Met Office says the likely scenario is for inland locations to see a relatively short period of 40-50mph (64-80km/h) gusts, and coastal areas to see longer periods of 50-60mph (80-97km/h) gusts.

BBC Sport

Northampton Saints' wing George North has been selected in the Wales side to face Italy in Rome on Sunday.

Image source, Reuters

North, 24, made his comeback from his latest head injury last month.

Wales face Italy at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday at 14:00.

BBC Sport

Northampton Saints' hooker Dylan Hartley has been picked for England's Six Nations opener against France on Sunday, captaining the side.

Hartley, who led England to the Grand Slam last year, hasn't played in six weeks after being banned for hitting Leinster's Sean O'Brien.

Image source, PA

Alongside Hartley will be Saints team-mates Courtney Lawes, who starts in the second row, and Tom Wood, who is in the back row.

Fellow Saints back row, Teimana Harrison, is on the bench for the match at Twickenham on Saturday, at 16:50.

Northampton Saints sign Mitch Eadie and Jamal Ford-Robinson from Bristol from the start of the 2017-18 season.

Sam Read
BBC Radio Northampton politics reporter

A £2m investment will create 46 new "front-line roles" at Northamptonshire Police.

The county's police and crime commissioner, Stephen Mold, said the jobs would specifically tackle cyber crime and in-part carry out early intervention work in areas such as child sexual exploitation and domestic violence.

It's expected 30 of the roles will be full police officers.

The extra jobs are being partly funded by cuts in the commissioner's office and a rise in the part of council tax that pays for policing.  

Elizabeth Rizzini
BBC Look East weather

There are more details on the BBC Weather website.

MPs voted last night to allow the PM to begin the Brexit process.

MPs backed the European Union Bill by 498 votes to 114, with 47 Labour rebels voting against.

All of Northamptonshire's MPs, all Conservative, voted in favour of the bill, and some took to Twitter to give their reaction...

Tom Percival
BBC Radio Northampton

Northampton was second only to London in the number of new businesses that started during 2015, according to the latest report from the Centre for Cities, external.

It says in the 12 month period, 100 businesses started in the town.

While the number doesn't consider how many gained a foothold in the market, Tim Hadland, cabinet member for regeneration, enterprise and planning at Northampton Borough Council, said: "This year's report confirms what we already suspected - that Northampton continues to nurture, support and encourage enterprise."

Pete Cooper
BBC Local Live

Good morning.

We are back with live updates for Northamptonshire. We'll have more from the Brexit vote in Parliament yesterday and news of new front-line police officers for the county's force.

Plus later today we'll find out which Saints players have made the England team to face France in their Six Nations opener on Saturday. Will captain Dylan Hartley, who hasn't played in six weeks because of ban for striking with an arm, be in the side?

Image source, Getty Images

Tom Percival
BBC Radio Northampton

That's it from Northampton's Local Live page for today.

Thanks for reading! Have a good evening. We'll be back from 08:00 tomorrow.

Tom Percival
BBC Radio Northampton

You may, if you were lucky, have caught a bit of brightness this afternoon, as the cloud thinned for a time.

It's back to business as usual tonight though, as the cloud thickens through the evening.

It'll be a mild night, though, thanks to the cloud, so temperatures could well be in double figures by dawn tomorrow.

Tom Percival
BBC Radio Northampton

Wellingborough's veteran Brexiteer MP Peter Bone says the debate over Article 50 is the culmination of six years of hard work, since he first tabled a motion for an EU referendum in 2011.

Image source, PA

Following his speech at the debate at Parliament, he spoke to BBC Radio Northampton's Drive programme.

"Did I think I'd see the day when the House of Commons would be about to vote to leave the EU? Probably not. I'm amazed it's happened," he said.

Tom Percival
BBC Radio Northampton

Prof Nick Petford, the vice-chancellor of the University of Northampton, says the ban on Iraqis travelling to the USA will "really annoy" his colleagues at the University of Babylon in Iraq, which Northampton partners with.

"I think some of my Iraqi colleagues are feeling particularly bruised," he said. "I think it's an incredibly clumsy way to go about addressing a genuine issue, which is fundamentalist Islamic terrorism."

Image source, University of Northampton

"No-one wants to support it - for the Iraqi people it's a disaster.

"If you look around the world at who's dying in these atrocities, it's mostly Muslims. To put a blanket ban in won't be received well and is a propaganda victory for the terrorists."

Tom Percival
BBC Radio Northampton

• The Daventry Express reports that an anonymous donor has offered £20,000, external for information on an arson attack in Badby at the start of the year.

• Supermarket shoppers in Wellingborough have been praised for raising more than £15,000 for last year's Poppy Appeal, external, reports the Northants Telegraph.

• Northampton Town boss Justin Edinburgh has told the Chronicle and Echo that he's pleased with the balance to the side, after signing Michael Smith, external on loan.

Harborough Mail

The wife of a 44-year-old Market Harborough father-of-two with cancer is campaigning to raise £10,000, external to send him for special treatment abroad.

Stuart Linnell
BBC Radio Northampton

The trade in illegally-imported dogs is continuing to thrive, despite increased efforts to tackle it.

According to Dogs' Trust, 400 illegal puppies were detected in the past 12 months at cross channel ports - that's a 10-fold increase on the year before. The trust says that checks at ports "are not fit for purpose".

Image source, Getty Images

It isn't just illegally imported dogs, though. Dogs picked up off the streets and imported legitimately can also bring difficulties, as Valerie Blades, a volunteer with dog rehoming charity Wellidogs, external, told me.

"[In eastern Europe] dogs wander the streets, so when they're picked up and re-homed over here... quite often you can't train that out of them."

Stuart Linnell
BBC Radio Northampton

Buying a puppy can be a fantastic experience, but as I heard on Breakfast this morning, innocent buyers in our county are having their hearts broken by the illegal trade in dogs.

According to Dogs' Trust, 400 illegal puppies were detected in the past 12 months at cross channel ports.

Image source, Getty Images

Sam Diamond, from Northamptonshire Trading Standards, told me she thinks the issue is significantly under-reported.

"Since June 2013 we've dealt with 16 cases of smuggled dogs," she said. "To me that's quite a significant number and I agree with others that it's the tip of the iceberg."

Ms Diamond told me of owners taking their new puppies to a vet, only to find "eastern European microchips in them".

The dogs are quarantined, and the owner only gets them back if they pay the costs.