hello and welcome to one hundred days. it's now official — the uk will be holding a general election onjune the 8th. after a debate in the commons — mps overwhelmingly approved the motion, for the third time in as many years the uk will stage another nationwide vote. the ayes to the right 522. the noes to the left 13. the prime minister says a win will strengthen her hand when it comes to brexit. but theresa may has confirmed she will not be taking part in any televised debates. every vote for the conservatives will make me stronger when i negotiate for britain with the european union. in just four days the people the french will be heading to the polls. we'll be going live to france where some of the final rallies are underway. also...do you happen to have seen our aircraft carrier? last week donald trump said he was sending a us warship to the korean peninsula — the pictures show a different story and a very different location. liberal resistance to president trump wasn't enough to put

a democrat in congress from georgia — and yet, the party is still claiming victory. we'll explain. not another one! for gods sake, i can stand it. and... if you're feeling a case of election fatigue you are not alone. going back to the ballot box isn't sitting well with everyone in the uk. i'm christian fraser in london, katty kay's in new york. it's less than two years since britain's last general election, ten months since the brexit referendum, nine months since theresa may entered downing street — and in case you are counting, it's 49 days until britain goes to the polls... again. the opposition labour party was never likely to turn down an opportunity to try to eject a conservative government. and mps from both sides voted overwhelmingly in favour of the prime minister's snap election.

the ayes to the right 522. the noes to the left 13. opposition mp's say they are up for the fight even though the polls suggest mrs may could be returned with an even greater majority, comejune the 9th. let's get a flavour of that debate from the house of commons earlier. there are three things the country needs, a strong economy, strong defence and strong stable leadership. that is what our plans for brexit and plans for a stronger britain will deliver. and that is what the conservative party will be offering at this election. and we will be out there fighting for every vote. whereas the right honourable gentleman opposite would bankrupt oui’ gentleman opposite would bankrupt our economy, we can add offences and is simply not fit to lead. mr

speaker, we welcome the general election. but this is a prime minister who promised there would not be one. a prime minister who cannot be trusted. she says it is about leadership. yet she is refusing to defend her record in television debates. she has chosen an early election, let's not buy this nonsense, not because she needs a mandate to deliver brexit. the labour party has given heard that mandate. she is acting on the narrow majority of the referendum in 2016. she has chosen the selection because she looked across the dispatch box and could not resist the temptation of doing the political equivalent of taking candy from a baby and facing

a labour party in a general election. our political correspondent rob watson has been following today's twists and turns at westminster. david cameron's manifesto not even half implemented apart from that referendum pledge. and brexit will bei referendum pledge. and brexit will be i suppose the defining thing in this campaign. absolutely. and in a strange way i think it is hard to imaginea strange way i think it is hard to imagine a british election where the sta kes imagine a british election where the stakes could be higher. after all this will be about who gets to shape post brexit britain and its future. absolutely enormous stakes. but in some ways it could be as tedious as it is exciting. we already know what the shape of the campaign will be from the prime minister, absolutely brexit all the way. only i can provide the strong leadership needed to give written the best steer on

brexit. we also have a steer on what labour will be about, not about brexit but austerity and the government failing to deliver on some of those campaign promises. government failing to deliver on some of those campaign promiseslj imagine some of those campaign promises.” imagine in your coverage of british politics you have taken a moment to watch what is going on on this side of the atlantic and we've seen some extraordinary flip—flops and u—turns on policy from the president. he does not seem to be paying a political price for those. do you think theresa may risks pay any price for her u—turn on calling a snap election? that is a good question and not the only one commission made a u—turn on iraq said, she was on the remaining side but has become an enthusiastic brexiteer. i think it is one of the risks she takes, is there a chance that the voters will see it notjust asa that the voters will see it notjust as a u—turn but also a bit of flag ra nt as a u—turn but also a bit of flagrant opportunism. the voters know the opposition in this country

is very weak. so that i think of the danger along with the other part of the risk, just the mechanics of the referendum. worth remembering 48% of people voted to remain and theresa may is the kind of queen of brexit, she needs to be careful she does not alienate all those voters as well. ina way alienate all those voters as well. inawayi alienate all those voters as well. in a way i think that issue of opportunism, getting the message right for remainders and livres alike is perhaps even more of a challenge than any acts as a station is about you turning. -- livres. the conservative politician john redwood is a longstanding supporter of brexit, and one of the mps who voted today to approve the general election on june 8th. good evening. there will be many people coming back to that point who voted for the conservative manifesto in 2015 who will feel quite cheated only half of that enacted.”

in 2015 who will feel quite cheated only half of that enacted. i do not agree at all and the public do not agree at all and the public do not agree either. the polling taking today on theresa may and her decision backed by parliament to have an early election gets a strong endorsement by the public. they accept that the public made an important and defining decision to leave the eu because the previous government fulfilled his pledge to give everyone the right to make that decision. and except that the present government needs a new mandate to get on with it and get a better deal than we would be able to get if the leadership of the government was constantly being snapped up by a group of mps who have not accepted the result of the referendum. some would say if theresa may wins a bigger majority than the uk may get a softer brexit because the prime minister will be able to compromise as she will have to do with some of the european leaders. without having to fear the ha rd leaders. without having to fear the hard brexiteers on her own backbenchers. and she might in some ways point to you as obviously

someone ways point to you as obviously someone who does not really want to compromise on brexit. that is particularly silly analysis because if you look at the arithmetic of the current house of commons, there is a large remain majority. most mps voted remain. and so we were not in a position to pressurise the prime minister. she chose to implement brexit fully and there is no such thing as hard or soft brexit. there isa thing as hard or soft brexit. there is a good brexit which is what she's trying to achieve and the first thing you have to do wish some opposition parties had not understood is you cannot stay part of the single market without paying contributions and accepting the supremacy of the court, accepting many european laws and freedom of movement which go with the single market. in that respect the government is realistic and in agreement with our european partners. let me rephrase this slightly differently, it looks like the promised will have to make

concessions to the europeans in the course of these negotiations, either any concessions you think she might make if she expanded her majority after the election that she would not done beforehand. particularly thinking of the £50 billion divorce bill. how happy would you be with that? that is nonsense, there is no requirement under the treaties to pay the divorce bill, the prime minister has made clear that we will pay the monies which we are owing which basically is the continuing contributions we have to make as a member up until the point we leave. the cable for —— offer fantastic concessions as part of the package we are offering to our current partners in the eu, we offers tariff free access to oui’ partners in the eu, we offers tariff free access to our market and no new barriers in access to our market which is fantastic for them because they sell us more than we sell them. ido they sell us more than we sell them. i do not think we need to go beyond making those kind of generous compromises which i am happy to make as is the prime minister.”

compromises which i am happy to make as is the prime minister. i do not hear the europeans say it is a ridiculous proposition that britain should pave the divorce bill. they're bound should pave the divorce bill. they‘ re bound to should pave the divorce bill. they're bound to try it on but there's no legal requirement, or self—satisfied that. any sensible reading of the treaty can see there is no provision to charge a country that has exercised its right to leave the european union and also i must leave the european union and also i m ust co nfess leave the european union and also i must confess there is no right for us must confess there is no right for us to demand a share of the assets that the european union has built up during our membership. there is no right to do do that and they have no right to do do that and they have no right to do do that and they have no right to levy a sport the opportunities. you are a member for wokingham, 56% voted remain. does that give you some sticky times on the doorstep # love factually inaccurate, the results were declared by local authority area and i represent parts of wokingham and parts of west berks. the fact is we

gave the decision to the people to make and now all conservative mps and practically all labour mps have come to the same conclusion that we have to get on and implement the wishes of the british people as determined in the referendum vote. thank you very much. so today the political parties in britain will be busy organising candidates, reserving battle buses, printing the campaign literature. but nothing compared to what we spend here on elections in the united states. i was just taking a look through some of donald trump's campaign figures, from announcing his candidacy to winning the white house — take a look at this. so his campaign lasted 510 days, compared to your 49 days, he took part in 1a debates — three of them of course with hillary clinton and he spent — wait for it — 332 million dollars. how much did they spend overall? that $332 million might look with

double for the price of a mass of country like the us and its democracy. the final figure country like the us and its democracy. the finalfigure if country like the us and its democracy. the final figure if you include all the outside spending was a whopping $2.6 billion. i think the uk spent something like 35 million, thatis uk spent something like 35 million, that is bargain basement democracy. i have got it here. the sixth largest parties spent 39 million, the toy spent the most at 15 million, 3 million more than labour. and i look and thought how does that compare so and i look and thought how does that compare so hillary clinton spent $36 million on advertisements in texas alone in the last couple of couple of weeks of the campaign. in a state that she had no chance of winning. texasis that she had no chance of winning. texas is a big state of course. when americans hear these numbers and they get so used to it, they're so used to this kind of outside, outsized campaign spending, the cannot believe about the british

elections that there are so cheap and so short. i kind of wish they could not just believe and so short. i kind of wish they could notjust believe it but would adopt some of those practices here as well because it is getting out of control. and those numbers in terms of money are only going to get bigger the next time around. there's a dose of election fever in the spring air, before britain holds its poll — the french will vote this sunday in the first round of their presidential election. and the big question is whether france is heading for the kind of seismic change we've seen both the brexit vote and the trump election. according to polling there, the main centre right and centre left parties are in trouble. there are four candidates in the running for the second round, with marine le pen of the far right doing well. our correspondent thomas fessy has been testing the mood in the northern town of amiens, where centrist candidate — emmanuel macron — was born. it was once a stronghold of the left but not any more. here in amiens, yet another factory about to close down. these workers feel that

globalisation has passed them by. theirjobs are going to poland, and they blame the political establishment. translation: parties of the right and left play ping—pong, but nothing moves. laws are being passed, but not implemented. people are fed up. none of the candidates talk about relocations, he says, except for perhaps marine le pen and jean—luc melenchon, or the far right and far left. like anthony and christine, many here look to the extremes. four days to go before the vote, and only two thirds of french voters say they are sure of their choice. last—minute deciders may prove the current polls wrong, and traditional parties worry they may suffer from a potentially record low turnout. evelyn has always voted for the republicans, but this time around, she tells me, trust is broken.

she will abstain. translation: i am not going to vote for people who have been manipulating us for so long. whether it is one side or the other, they always promised a lot but nothing ever gets done. distrust of the political elite, job losses and calls for change, the stories from amiens resonate across france, and will determine the direction the country decides to take. thomas fessey, bbc news, amiens. hugh schofield is in marseille where the national front candidate marine le pen is holding a rally. there has been a lot of attention on that rally because the attack block the police uncovered a few days ago. how does that affect her support

base here? of course in a sense it plays into her speech, her discourse. she said from the start that terrorism is one of the grave threat is that france faces. and it is clear that when there is a terrorist threat and it looks like it was a serious threat, that was thwarted by police, that innocent days into the message she's trying to get across about tougher immigration and so on. she got herself into a bit of a pickle in the last couple of days because she said had she been in power there would not be any of these attacks. the toulouse killer would not have existed in her watch. and people are saying you may be tough on terrorism but practically speaking, there's no way even you will have 1% rise on the kind of attacks we've seen in

france. marseille was one of the best places in the 1980s to come out in support of the national front. is it, the party says it has changed since then, has the support base changed as well, who is marine le pen reaching out to in marseille? well in a rally like this it is the core, what has happened in the past week, she has been riding high in the opinion polls for months. and she sought qualification for the second round as a shoo—in. but she cannot feel the way tonight. the emergence ofjean—luc melenchon, the resilience of francois fillon, that has rattled the national front can. so the message tonight is to reach out to the core vote, make sure that they turn out on friday. because all

could be decided by a small margin. thank you so much. let's turn to amiens and thomas. i should tell viewers that you normally report from west africa and you have gone home to get a feel for the election. what has surprised you about the tenor of the debate?” what has surprised you about the tenor of the debate? i think what is extremely surprising is to see the level of indecision amongst voters. when you speak to people around town they tell you they mightjust decide at the last minute, that they will look at the programmes and also see what the candidates are saying in the last few days and that will help them decide. i think it has never happened before that we have such an unpredictable election where we have four candidates really that could actually make it to the run—offs.”

was thinking back five years and i covered the election and i was thinking about francois hollande and the promises he made and it was change now, he was going to change the country and there was this uplifting mood. and then he promised he would reduce unemployment, down below the 10% and he failed. it took him four years to do that. so many broken promises and in a town like amiens were traditionally they voted socialist, they must be sick and tired of politics. exactly and the level of distrust in the political class is huge. as you said we are in the heart of the rust belt here and it used to be a bastion for the left parties. over the last few years marine le pen and the nationalfront have been able to scoop up the disappointed votes amongst the working class that used to vote socialist or communist years ago.

and again! socialist or communist years ago. and again i think there is a concern this time around that the region might turn to a populist insurgency like marine le pen. i think a lot of people here are telling us that they are pessimistic about the future and thatis are pessimistic about the future and that is what strikes me a lot. the only people, i think there was a survey two weeks ago saying that surprisingly the voters who are sure to vote for emmanuel macron of the most optimistic but if you look into the statistics of these voters there are also the more well off people, the kind of middle to upper class people of france who have safety in theirjobs and their lives. and the working class feel kind of let down

by years of socialist party government that has not changed their daily life. there are similarities between what is going on there and here and also the united states. thank you very much. and we will be in paris tomorrow, looking forward to that. four days of the elections. one thing that is different is what young voters are doing because we saw young voters in the uk vote against brexit, young voters vote against donald trump in the us. it looks increasingly like young voters might be looking at marine le pen and saying you know what, we think that is a good option. that could be a reflection of the high youth unemployment rate. but i think it will be fascinating to watch how the young voters cast their ballots this weekend and in their ballots this weekend and in the second round as well. as thomas said, looking at unemployment rates which are stubbornly high in france of course it is the young people who have suffered the most. and the

surprising thing, you see people on university campuses campaigning for marine le pen. when i first went there in 2010 it was not the done thing to put such posters up in the university. but that is changing, she's taken the party a little bit ina she's taken the party a little bit in a softer direction and people are prepared to go out and campaign for her. we will be there over the next few days and we have an action packed programme tomorrow with many people coming to speak to us. and we will be there of course on sunday night with the results programme and a special edition of 100 days on monday from paris with the result. let's turn our attention to north korea now and china says it's seriously concerned about pyongyang's nuclear programme — but — is opposed to talk of action that could raise tensions on the korean peninsula. china's foreign ministry spokesman was probably referring to comments made by the american vice president, mike pence injapan earlier today. addressing troops on the huge american aircraft carrier, the uss ronald reagan, mr pence told troops

stationed there to be ready. at the destruction of the president of the policy united states will be continue to work diligently with japan, our allies across the region, china and the wider world, to bring economic and diplomatic pressure to bear on the regime in north korea. we will do so until they abandon their nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. as all of you know readiness is the key and use the instrument of american policy should know, all options are on the table. mike pence addressing the naval staff on the ronald reagan — all options currently on the table but i would say katty that if you are trying to convince people of your resolve, and you are serious about projecting a military deterrent, then it really does help if you know where your ships are? seems basic, right? it's emerged that another aircraft carrier — the uss carl vinson — and other warships that were supposedly sailing towards north korea were in fact headed in the other direction.

last week president trump said an "armada" was being sent to the coast off the korean peninsula, to the sea of japan. but the strike group was instead off the coast of indonesia moving towards the indian ocean. how do we know this? well because the us navy posted images on its website which show the carl vinson transiting through the sunda strait at the weekend, between the indonesian islands of java and sumatra — en route to exercises with the australian navy. about 5000 km away. iam i am distressed about this because i had the idea that in the plotting room at the pentagon, pushing their ships around the world map but clearly not, they do not know where they are. the politics are interesting, the white house dampness in the lap of the pentagon

and said they were briefed by the pentagon that this was happening. the head of the pentagon was speaking in saudi arabia and gave the bumbling answer. basically trying to say do not worry, it is heading to korea but notjust quite yet. maybe i think it is about donald trump and that comedy made about sending the armada and his desire to project american strength and power but it did not work so well. you're watching one hundred days from bbc news. still to come for viewers on the bbc news channel and bbc world news: nail—bitingly close in georgia, where the democrats almost take a congressional seat from the republicans. and, from greece, we'll hear from the child migrants who've been settled into local schools, as their families begin to put down roots farfrom home. that's still to come on one hundred days, from bbc news. another quiet evening and for the

remainder of the week the weather is going to remain unsettled. if anything just a touch warmer especially across some southern and eastern areas. but it stays pretty cloudy and in fact a lot of cloud across the atlantic out there ready to swing in our way. most of the cloud has been across more northern parts of the country. but the cloud is now moving further south. tonight it is not going to be especially cold, a lot of cloud across the uk and even some spots of rain. temperatures no lower than around eight or 9 degrees for most city centres. in the south just a bit fresher because those guys will be clear for longer. fresher because those guys will be clearfor longer. —— fresher because those guys will be clear for longer. —— skies. fresher because those guys will be clearfor longer. —— skies. tomorrow morning lots of sunshine across the south as we had today. the wind is light and the sun strong, and then

central areas, wales, the midlands come into yorkshire and lincolnshire, a little bit more cloud and some spots of rain. generally speaking the rest of the country moving north a fair bit of cloud through thursday morning. the rest of thursday morning and into the afternoon, some of the cloud syncing south sophie are not quite so sunny tomorrow. syncing south sophie are not quite so sunny tomorrow. more cloud than blue sky on thursday and temperatures more or less the same. perhaps a little higher across some northern areas at around 1a, 15 degrees. then on friday a subtle difference in the north, a bit of a change, we expect some rain moving in to the western isles. not so much across eastern parts of scotland. to the south of that didn't cloud for most of us but temperatures getting up most of us but temperatures getting up to 17 degrees. then the weekend, high pressure across the uk, not seeing clear blue skies but settled weather and light wind. and if the

clouds break up it should feel fairly pleasant. but the far north of the country starts to see chile aircoming in behind of the country starts to see chile air coming in behind this cold front. early next week, sunday into monday, we will see low—pressure sweeping monday, we will see low—pressure sweeping across monday, we will see low—pressure sweeping across scotland. that is something that we are watching but this forecast could change. welcome back to 100 days. christian fraser is in london. our top story: eyes to the right, 522, nose to the left, 13 -- eyes to the right, 522, nose to the left, 13 —— noes to the left, 13. every vote for the conservatives will make me stronger when i negotiate with the european union. and we will find out from greece how

child migrants are being settled into local schools as their families realise they won't be able to travel further into europe. let's ta ke let's take a look at georgia, georgia in america. the southern state is where a democrat has come within a whisker of taking back a congressional seat that has been held by the republicans the decades. he tookjust over 48% of the vote against 17 candidates. he needed 50% to secure the set. he was just 3000 votes short and well now face a run—off against his republican rival who won just under one fifth of all the votes cast. the set was left va ca nt the votes cast. the set was left vacant when congressmen tom price resigned tojoin vacant when congressmen tom price resigned to join the trump administration as secretary of health and human services. so, a challenge for the republicans, not that you would know it, judging by

mr trump's tweet. he was in a fairly bullish mood. i love he said that he would was glad to be of help. he has said he will go down in campaign in georgia, but who knows if that will help? the white house had this reaction? this was a big loss for them. they went all in on it, they said their goal was to get over 50% and they came up short. jon sopel is in washington for us. jon, if this was a performance review, it might sound something like, you can keep your job but you've got to do a lot better than you have been doing. is that fair? yes, except if you are donald trump who wouldn't accept that at all, he would say as a

result of his intervention we won, we stopped getting what he wanted! when the play—off comes injune we will win the seat and show that the republicans are still doing really well, all thanks to me. but i think the more sober reflection would be, my goodness, there was a 24% swing against the republicans to the democrats in this special election in georgia, and that is a wake—up call which says we cannot rely and ta ke call which says we cannot rely and take our base for granted. there are some real serious issues out there, and people maybe i'm not that happy. that may be the conclusion donald trump will reach, but there are many republicans who are taking the view. i guess the counterargument might be that this is an area of atlanta that is well—heeled suburban types, this is well—heeled suburban types, this isa is well—heeled suburban types, this is a state where you and i even spoke during the course of the election campaign about the possibility of georgia becoming a

democratic state, and actually you can't read too much into this one district, and republicans might well be safe in the more conservative areas. it is certainly true that you should never read too much into one special election, whether it is being held in georgia or in britain during the course of parliament, wherever it happens to be, you can over interpret. but there are things you can take out for both sides. the republicans will be massively relieved that he didn't get over 50% and win, because that would have change the narrative about from failure and what has gone wrong in these 100 days. they have been able to push it away, the democrats did well but not quite well enough, and they have been questions about how they have been questions about how they campaign in the seat and could they campaign in the seat and could they really start winning these kind of places in kansas as well that was an election recently. if donald

trump popularity slides, then these seats could fall the democrats' way with consequential outcomes for who controls the house of representatives, but how much more difficult it would make governing for donald trump. jon, katty kay and i have been comparing election spends, we sped 39,000,02015, and the americans spent something over 2 billion, but i imagine is when it comes to georgia, they will throw the kitchen sink at this. yes, and the kitchen sink at this. yes, and the democrats already have. this was a special race for one congressional district, and $7 million was spent in the campaign, so he raised a lot of money. and the money is almost inexhaustible. the huge difference with the british election is you don't have paid tv advertising, whereas in america it is saturation bombing by 32nd advert spots. #

i wonder whether it drives the electorate of thing, i am going to go on holiday to a state where there is no spending. but yes, they will throw the kitchen sink at this, because there is so much symbolic prestige. the uk voters will need a time—share, there are six weeks still to go! and the takeaway from this one is that the republicans can't afford to lose this. donald trump can't afford to have the republicans lose their seat because then all of the headlines will be about how republicans are doing badly and his presidency is doing badly, it will be seen as a direct referendum on how he is doing, so i think you are right. a lot of money will pour into georgia. our thanks to jon in washington. let's get some other news from around the world —

and a young protester in venezuela has been shot and seriously injured during rallies around the country. the demonstrators are calling it "the mother of all protests". they are demanding new presidential elections take place and blame president maduro for venezuela's serious economic crisis. the former american football star aaron hernandez has been found dead in prison, where he was serving a life sentence for murder. prison officials say he killed himself. 27—year—old hernandez was convicted for murdering another football player, odin lloyd, in 2013. now to greece — there are around 60,000 refugees and migrants currently trapped in the country. and many have been there for months on end. instead of quickly passing through the country as they did some years ago, many of them bound for serbia and the eu beyond, they have been stranded in the camps. and among those most severely impacted are the children. some have been attending their first day of school in greece — it's supposed to be an exciting time for a child — but for some the day was ruined by greek demonstrators who were

chanting nationalist slogans. and what is this? s it is a hard thing when you don't know the language. at first we had someone to translate. but now is the time passes by, things are better, and the children learn more words in greek, so it is easierfor us. it means a lot for the children to come here to greek school. they are very happy and they finally have routine in their lives. very, very good. the greek children are very happy with the syrians, because it is

something different. they want to learn their names, and they have a magic way to communicate without words, by playing. sako here sa ko here is sako here is a school. we can give the education, to educate the children, the students. difficult if they come from syria, but we are teachers, we educate our students, only that, nothing more. a difficult situation for many families in greece. there will be a lot of focus over the summer on those migrant routes. 21st—century fox says after a review of sexual abuse allegations, bill o'reilly will not be returning to the fox news channel. he was a real tub

thumperfor news channel. he was a real tub thumper for donald trump. this is a huge story in the united states, because he is the biggest staffer fox news, the highest ratings of any programme on the channel. for them to have decided to cut their ties with him has a huge economic impact is fox news and they wouldn't have done so unless they were really concerned about these allegations. there are allegations by five different women, reports in the new york times that fox has already paid out $13 billion, and focus on rupert murdoch as he is trying to have a ta keover murdoch as he is trying to have a takeover purchase of sky news the uk, the organisation clearly the families decided they don't want this cloud of sexual allegations. but we discussed a few weeks ago but donald trump had weighed in on this was defending bill o'reilly without really knowing the facts of the case. it looks like fox news is not

going to do that any more. interesting. more development on that, no doubt. so election fever grips the nation — or does it. this is the third national vote in as many years. there was a cartoon i spotted yesterday in the telegraph newspaper which perhaps captures the mood for many in the uk. it's a parliamentary candidate on the doorstep talking to a voter, and the voter says we have got to stop meeting like this. yes not everybody wholly enthused by another campaign — one or two feeling a little bit like brenda of bristol? not another one?! there is too much politics going on at the moment i can't stand it. why do she need to do it? brenda, it keeps us in ajob! she captures the news —— she ca ptu res she captures the news —— she captures the mood of the moment. we

will be in bristol tomorrow. that is one hundred days for the moment — if you'd you can find us back it tomorrow. hello. this is bbc news. i'm clive myrie. the top stories at a quarter to eight: mps have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a snap general election on june the overwhelmingly in favour of a snap general election onjune the 8th by a majority of more than 500. the prime minister says she won't be taking part in any tv debates during the campaign, drawing criticism from opponents including labour leader jeremy corbyn. travel chaos at euston as a track—side fire stops services in and out of the major transport hub. and not that on the markets. the ftse100 down, the dax up markets. the ftse100 down, the dax up slightly. and a mixed bag in a

the states. mps have voted overwhelmingly to back the prime minister's call for a general election on june the back the prime minister's call for a general election onjune the 8th. they backed a motion by 522 votes to 13, easily surpassing the two thirds majority of all mps needed to trigger the poll. but theresa may says she won't take part in tv debates ahead of the election on the 8th ofjune. earlier my colleague simon mccoy spoke to the former lib dem leader and deputy prime minister nick clegg, and asked him for his views on theresa may's decision not to take part in tv debates. so she's clearly right from her own selfish point of view, because she is not a politician that performs particularly well out of her comfort zone. but i think she is fundamentally wrong when it comes to the interests of our democratic country. the ball have got used to

the idea and welcome the idea that every few years they get to see how the runners and riders in an election measure up to each other and argue with each other and they wa nt to and argue with each other and they want to see that for themselves. the artificial bearpit of westminster is no surrogates for a much more fluid, open, contemporary setting that you have a nice tv debates. so the broadcasters and the other leaders should go ahead anyway. empty chair her? why not? she is not courageous enough to do it. i think it reveals something else which i think rings true with me given that i worked with her for many years true with me given that i worked with herfor many years in government, which is that theresa may is an accomplished politician in an environment where she controls over him. home secretary is a classic part of whitehall where you pull a lever and something happens, it isa pull a lever and something happens, it is a command and control part, and she can clearly run government like that with a clique around her

in the tent. i general election campaign is