Battleground Britain Special Newsnight

It's not true of course, but sure as hell a lot of it is,

and in this election the outcome will be determined in different

So tonight we are out and about in battleground Britain.

Three constituencies each chosen for a special reason,

This is Bishop Auckland, the beautiful market

town in County Durham, in the election battleground

I'm 200 miles south in the Conservative seat

The heart of a town lies in its people.

We're taking that to heart, and we'll be speaking

Scotland is a very different battle ground indeed.

We'll hear why this seat of Berwickshire is important,

I'm standing outside the town hall, with 30 days

It's easy to watch our programme, or any other, and to get

the impression that an election is just a contest fought

between party leaders on a national stage.

Certainly it felt like that today with Theresa May and husband Philip

on the One Show sofa and Jeremy Corbyn

But we are going to ignore both of those stories tonight -

because for good or ill, we have a voting system that

also makes our election 650 local contests.

Each seat has its own candidates, its own local parties,

And with national party loyalties in an elasticated

state at the moment, local action is often where it's at.

So tonight we've ditched the studio and have come out

We are in three ordinary constituencies, chosen

because the way their voters turn on June the 8th could help deliver

three very different futures for Britain.

A little later in the programme, we'll be off to the Conservative

The seat is number 50 on Labour's target list,

and we're dropping in to look at the Labour in power scenario.

If Labour can win Stevenage, they are probably the largest

It's a London commuter belt town, but it's a long way

And the Tories were 5000 votes ahead last time.

But the constituency voted Labour throughout the Blair heydays.

We'll also visit the Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency

This is an SNP seat, but is number three on the Tories' UK target list.

A comfortable Tory victory there takes us to the Conservative

consolidation outcome, a modest increase in

A rural seat, it spans a large portion of south-east of Scotland.

Most voters here backed unionist parties last time.

Will that help the Tories take it, and signify a resurgence

But our first stop is here in Bishop Auckland.

A Labour seat now, this is number 46 on the Tory target list,

and a win would suggest we're looking at the Tory landslide

scenario, with a majority of around 100.

This has a long history, but its economy has been shaped

by the rise and fall of the coal mines here.

Today, the Conservatives need a 4.5% swing from Labour to clinch it.

They came within 328 votes of winning it last time.

Well, with me here is our political editor, Nick Watt.

Nick, we're here because if the Conservatives can win

in seats like this then we'd expect them to be on course

for a landslide majority, and they would have stolen

significant ground from Labour on their home turf.

The polling experts have said that if the Conservatives win this seat,

they would have a majority of 100, and that is as you say landslide

territory. Some recent opinion polls have suggested we are heading that

way, the guardian ICM poll yesterday gave the Conservatives a 22 point

lead all the others say it is more narrow. But our pollsters were

cautious and suggested local election results last week implied a

swing from Labour to the Conservatives of 2.5%, and that

wouldn't really get you into a landslide, it would be a Tory

majority of 60, not bad, who would complain? But that is only ten above

the figures that ministers are saying would we make this early

election worthwhile. If we're talking about this scenario today,

what would the impact of that B? It is something that our age group

would refer to as a Basildon moment, that moment in 1982 where it came

obvious that the Tories would get a fourth election victory. It has been

Labour since 1935 when Hugh Dalton recaptured it from the Liberals. He

was the Labour Chancellor who inadvertently leaked his budget in

1947, but after spending two Dacia, I would say the Tories have quite a

big hurdle to climb, which is entrenched Labour support even from

Labour voters who have doubts about Jeremy Corbyn, but there is a

reasonable Ukip vote here, and if that splits is the way opinion polls

show they will, maybe the Tories will get across the line. Thank you,

Nic. And Nick has spent the last couple

of days here in Bishop Auckland, testing the temperature of those

who live here and asking whether this town will stay Labour

or help give the Conservatives Medieval castles and grand houses

pepper the western half of the Bishop Auckland constituency. But

this is a parliamentary seat of two halves. As you head east into former

coal-mining areas, you see tell-tale signs of post-industrial decline.

There is real rapport poverty as well as urban poverty. Lots of

people struggling to make ends meet in their lives. So there is a lot of

the just about managing people do get talked about, and there are

those who go from one job to another, they are worried about

permanent and stability. Theresa May would dearly love to win this seat,

which has been in labour hands since 1935. The Prime Minister should have

little difficulty in picking up votes in the more prosperous parts

of the constituency. The hope will be that her central message about

championing ordinary working families will win over Labour and

Ukip voters in the more deprived areas. Success for the Tories,

buoyed by their victory in the nearby Tees Valley mayoral contest,

may depend in large part whether Labour voters are prepared to

support their leader. One lifelong supporter will be casting his ballot

the labour, but with little enthusiasm. He is too idle to shave,

and he's not right, he's not a Labour top man, I would say. He's

got to get himself sorted, because if not, we are going down the

Suwanee. His friend Danny isn't going to vote at all. Labour? No

backbone whatsoever. I would vote for Labour now. Labour will get it

around here no problem at all. But there is no leadership. So there are

strong doubts about Jeremy Corbyn in the Bishop Auckland Labour

heartlands, but head over to the leafy aside whether Tories can count

on strong support, and you can see signs of that Corbyn Fanclub. I

think the media are saying that Jeremy Corbyn is in very good. I

think he's a very good leader, and I think he stands his ground. I joined

the Labour Party to get him in. The contrasting views show that nothing

is straightforward about this seat, where the picture on the ground is

more nuanced than polling numbers would suggest. Apathy may be a

strong factor, and Bishop Auckland is no longer a straight Labour/ Tory

fight. Theresa May will only prevail if she can eat into 7000 Ukip votes.

Tell me why you wrote Ukip. Because immigration in this country is out

of control. Some people say that Ukip in a sense of done their job,

we are out of the EU. No, I don't agree. It's not job done, is it?

Half a job. Tories tend not to put their heads above the parapet in

Bishop Auckland. One mum of an aspiring ping-pong champion is full

of praise for Theresa May. I do like her, and coming from the feminist

point of view, I like that we've got a woman again. I think she's a

strong character, I like what she said about Brexit, and I think

probably a lot of people are thinking like that, they think she

is a strong leader and that helps the shift from Labour to Tory. I

don't think Labour have got a lot going for them at the moment. And

there are even Labour voters who praised the Prime Minister. I think

she's very strong. I think she won't take anything, she'll be a good

candidate and stand strong in terms of Brexit. But I don't believe in

the Conservative policies, really. If the Tories do win this seat, it

could well be remembered as a seismic moment in British politics.

It would be significant because it would say something about what was

happening across the nation as a whole, which might surprise people,

if this seat particularly went Conservative. In this overlooked

corner of north-east England, visitors would barely know an

election is under way. Many people told us they are simply

uninterested, and the greatest noise issue is not from election's

loud-hailers, but from one of England's most spectacular

waterfalls. Nic Watt there.

Arguably, the grand divide in England, exposed

by the referendum last year, was between big cities

like Manchester and London and secondary towns and cities that

tended to vote more enthusiastically for Brexit.

It's that factor that might or might not be reshaping the party

loyalties of seats we think of as naturally Labour or Tory.

Well, let's reflect on what's changing.

I am joined here in Bishop Auckland by James Wharton, former

He has been Conservative MP for Stockton South since May 2010.

And Chi Onwurah, Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central

since 2010 and a shadow Business Minister.

Good evening to you both. Chi first of all, what you think is happening

here among traditional Labour voters? Is there some sense of them

switching away? I think what we are seeing is we have Brexit divided the

country and divided northern voters as well, 58% of northern voters

voted to leave. The Conservative Party have taken on Ukip's language

and mantle is attracting them, but what I find on the doorstep, and we

have many fantastic candidates taking our message into the

communities, is that the Labour vote, the memory of the Tory

government and the cuts to public services combined with the fact that

people do not feel better off, people know that we are 10% on

average worse than when the Conservative first came into power,

that is still the message. Are you expecting to lose seats in the

north-east, though? We are fighting for every vote. That isn't what I

asked. The polls suggest that we may experience losses, but on the day

itself, I think people will remember what a Tory government means. What

is your experience, James Wharton? I would be surprised if we don't take

seat in the north-east, what is underlying that is where and when.

What do you think it is? I think a long time people voting in the

north-east were removed from those who represented them. Brexit is one

big reason, it highlighted that. Nearly all of the Labour MPs in this

region supported remain, and a lot of the Labour voters supported

leave, and there wasn't a voice for them, and they looked elsewhere.

What do you say, Chi, to Labour voters when they say, I might not

vote Labour or I don't like Jeremy Corbyn. What do you say? I say to

them, Labour voters who are thinking of switching to Tory, I say that if

in two years' time you will be lying at a -- lying awake at night out of

guilt will the Tories are doing to our schools, NHS and economy, and

your responsibility for that. And for James to say that our

candidates, our MPs, have not been rooted in their communities, when

the Tory party is full of people who can't even imagine what it is like

to take a bus, never mind to go to a food bank... Let James answer. I

have lived the north-east all my life. I have seen the complacency of

many of the Labour politicians and the reason. The big thing we face in

this country going forward, and people know this, is going to be

Brexit, getting the deal are going to that process, and there is a

choice in this election between Theresa May and her strong and

stable leadership... LAUGHTER

. Lets just ask about the pitch of the

north-east to your parties. It was the Tories who came up with this

Northern Powerhouse slogan, who seem to have a vision or ambition for the

North. You must feel terrible that Labour didn't talk about it in that

way for so long? Labour has always been rooted in the

industrial heartlands. Labour is for a resurgent industry and we know

what industry means, jobs, good quality jobs, making and building

things. The industrial strategy, you are Shadow Minister for industrial

strategy. What is it? Industrial strategy is to invest in our

transport, in innovation infrastructure, to invest in

communities and skills, for lifelong learning so we have the skilled

people to deliver the skilled jobs which mean higher wages and mean we

can compete internationally and globally. You were the Northern

Powerhouse minister until last summer. What has happened to that,

what is going on? Just last week we had the first mayor elected in the

north-east region. There are more in the north than anywhere else. And

with that comes significant devolution and new powers. Three

years ago George Osborne talked about high speed three. It was going

to be an east West think that would make northern cities more than the

sum of their parts. When is that going to be finished? You do not

finish a project on economic growth. When is it going to start? We have

seen devolution delivered in the Tees Valley. On every single train,

they will be replaced by 2022. These are big investment that had been

needed by -- nearly four years. Our economy can have workers moving

around thanks to our investment and we will set up the bank of the North

which will attract investment here and control that investment. Is it

your contention that the Northern Powerhouse is on track and being

delivered to the people of the North? I think it is. When you say

Northern Powerhouse... You cannot change something that dramatically

overnight. You are going to see new trains and devolution deal, the

shape of politics is changing across the north of England and people are

doing that. We that in the vote. Investment is going to follow. In

seven years we have doubled the debt under the Tories. We have to leave

it there. Well, that's it from

Bishop Auckland for now. We shall return later,

but the next leg on this UK Thanks, Evan - and good evening

from Abbotsford in the heart of the Scottish Borders,

the home of Sir Walter Scott, who did more than his fair share

to forge both Scottish identity and the idea of a Scotland's place

in the United Kingdom. We are here because constituencies

like this are the kind the Conservatives need to win

if they are to consolidate But more than that -

this election serves to emphasise how much Scotland

is "another country". For many here, this is a return

to the arguments of the 2014 Nicola Sturgeon says it's a chance

to put Scotland in Scotland's hands. Ruth Davidson, after a Tory surge

at last week's local elections, says it's an opportunity

for unionists to prevail. For Labour, who took a drubbing

in the locals and even managed to lose Glasgow council,

the question is whether this election brings

a fightback or wipeout. The resurgence of the Tories appears

to be a direct result In power in Scotland

for more than a decade, the last general election

was a triumph when they took So this election is for the heart

and soul of Scotland, but if the Conservatives gain even

a handful of seats, it would contribute to the idea

that they are the only party who can Scotland has been at the heart

of seismic shifts in politics In 1997 Labour in Scotland

was the backbone of Tony Blair's The Conservatives were all

but dead in the water Ten years later, the Scottish

National Party formed a minority administration in Hollywood and have

been in power ever since. Now they command the heights

of Scotland at Westminster. But people are beginning to ask

whether they have reached peak nat and how that would play

into a second independence When Nicola Sturgeon announced

there would be a second referendum, did that galvanise unionism

in the Scotland? So we've got this odd paradox

going on in Scottish politics now where the Unionist parties

want to talk about independence because they know they have this 55%

majority against it. And the SNP want to talk about other

things because they know that they actually are more in tune

with the views of the Scottish people on social policy,

on Europe, on social justice, There has always been

tactical voting here. But this time it may

have a radically different effect Labour is in a terrible,

terrible position. The weakest I have

ever seen the party. I think what is happening is that

people are saying, well, another independence referendum,

you know, we don't want that. We don't want to wrangle

over this question, And so what is happening

is they are voting Conservative because they have positioned

themselves clearly, clearly as the party that will fight

against another referendum. If the Conservatives

are going to take any seats from the Nationalists,

this one, Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk,

is first on the hit list. I am in Hawick though,

and here is the conundrum. This was once the centre

of the textile industry, but a combination of automation

and globalisation has decimated Hawico is a family firm founded

in the town in 1874. It makes luxury cashmere

clothing which is exported Brexit is by far and

away the biggest issue Scottish independence,

all the uncertainty that we have with all that are our

single biggest issues. While the view of the management

might be clear, there are some I have never voted Tory

in my life and I have But this time I'm going to vote Tory

because I voted to come out, I voted to stay together,

so I have to vote Tory. They say that Ruth Davidson has

detoxified the Tories. But I'm not really wanting another

referendum because we have had the result already and I think

they're just sort Alistair Moffat farms just

a few miles from here. He feels the apparent conundrum

of this election particularly Because we are a frontier people

and have been for a thousand years, we do not see the frontier people

on the other side of the Tweed People want to stay

in the British union, To avoid another unnecessary

referendum, as they see it. But also the Conservatives are

apparently embracing hard Brexit. And many people here do not want out

of the European Union. In rural England a seat like this

would have been safe Tory territory. But for years even before

the rise of the SNP, this was a liberal rather

than a Conservative stronghold. It will be here where we discover

whether Ruth Davidson has done enough to detoxify the Tories north

of the border. What would a Conservative land

grab in Scotland mean Nicola Sturgeon surprised many

by using the backdrop of Brexit to call for a second referendum

earlier this year. But could May have outmanoeurvered

her with her snap election? And if so, what would

the SNP do next? Well, I caught up earlier this

evening with the party's former I asked him what he would

regard as a mandate This election will not

decide independence. Independence will be

decided in a referendum. That is the established policy

of the Scottish National Party. This election will decide

whether the decisions about Scotland's future should

remain in Scotland's hands. These are decisions to be made

by the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish people,

not to be dictated And that is what an SNP victory

in this election will reinforce. You asked me what would

happen if the SNP... Can I just say that

unlike the rather presumptuous vainglorious announcements

from the Conservative Party about what they're going to win,

the SNP have never taken a single So we will let

the electorate decide. You talk about Ruth Davidson saying

it is a vainglorious boast to take Gordon,

your own seat. But you have said things like,

independence is inevitable, Well, to say that independence,

there is a movement of Scottish politics towards independence,

that is as certain as anything can That is not the same thing as saying

I'm going to overturn a 20,000 No, but you got a 6500 majority

in the last general election. I had a 20,000 majority over

the Conservative Party. I mean, the Tories have this always

extending list of seats I'm merely saying that

in the north-east of Scotland and in the borders of Scotland,

and in any common-sense area of Scotland, the people who make

vainglorious boasts before an election can often be brought

down to earth with a large bump. You could say that you would be

making a vainglorious boast between a second independence

referendum because you have said, independence is inevitable,

it is just generational. My belief has always been that once

the key decision was to establish the Scottish Parliament,

once the Scottish Parliament was established, then it would

increase and enhance its powers over That was a process which was as near

inevitable as anything I have always said the exact timing

of when that happens and how that happens,

that is for political debate and for I may say the destination

is what is set. The route and the number of stops

you have on the way, But that is interesting,

you say the destination is set. So what you are essentially saying

is the Scottish people could deliver no message at this general election

which would indicate that they do not want a second

independence referendum, No, the Scottish people,

my whole basis and being in politics What I am saying is once we

established the Scottish Parliament, and we are sitting here not far

from Linlithgow and the late Tam Dalyell stayed in the Binns

a few minutes from here. And Tam and I disagreed on many,

many things in politics, about the establishment

of a Scottish Parliament. But the one thing we agreed

on is once you have established a national parliament of Scotland,

it would over a period of time accrue the powers and become

an independent parliament. The people decide the timetable,

they decide when that happens. Two years ago the SNP got half

the vote in the general election. If that figure is significantly

lower in this election, are you saying that irrespective

of how they voted on Brexit, No, what I'm saying is the SNP

will go into this election looking for every vote and every possible

constituency, striving hard And you judge the winning

of an election by the party that gets the most seats

and the most votes. And you do not take

anything for granted. But if the direction of travel,

can I just ask, is the direction of travel in this election,

if Ruth Davidson moves and takes a number of seats including perhaps,

first of all, Berwickshire, which is a very, very

slender majority. Or Gordon, yes, because in fact

if they tactically voted against you on the same turnout,

on the same percent Why would they not

tactically vote against I saw an interesting figure

in the polls a couple of weeks ago. It did not ask how people

were voting, it looked at the parties and said,

do you like this party? 53% of people in

Scotland like the SNP. The figure for the

Conservative Party was 24%. But you have not got over

the 50% hurdle for a second I'm interested in the fact that

you will go for a second independence referendum no matter

what the result of this election is. No, the mandate for the second

referendum was last year. The decision on what happens at this

election is a matter But you judge whether you win

or lose an election by winning And on that criteria

the Scottish National Party have won every major election

in Scotland since 2010. I'm joined here by the fireside

by elections supremo and psephologist John Curtice,

who crunches the numbers at the University of Strathclyde,

and by Alex Massie, Scotland editor Alex Salmond is right that they have

the mandate for a second referendum. But is there anything that could

alter the thinking of that? Not for the SNP. In a technical sense or

factual sense if you prefer the SNP already have their mandate for a

second referendum, authorising the Scottish Government, that vote was

passed a few weeks ago. But politics is not just about facts and

technicalities and hitherto the SNP have done well covered lies in on a

sense of inevitability and the momentum is with them that the are

of national aberration if you like is at hand. If they were to lose

seats in this election that would check that momentum. It will remain

the largest party, but they will see a setback, which will embolden

conservatives who think we can push this further down the line.

The suits Ruth Davidson makes this about unionism? Ever since the

referendum of 2014, the constitutional question has been the

seat of Scottish politics, and this election is simply a continuation of

that process. The truth is, what has happened is not so much SNP support

has gone down that heavily, but rather that the Conservative Party

has become much more successful at bringing the Unionist vote in, and

essentially it is taking votes from the Labour Party. The other thing

which is true is the SNP is defending a quite remarkable base.

50% of the vote, 56 out of 59 seats, difficult to beat, and the

difficulty for the SNP in particular is you can see what happened in last

year's Scottish parliament election. Here on the border with England, up

in the north-east, and so on. The Liberal Democrat equally picking off

places like Fife north-east and Edinburgh West. And therefore the

SNP are finding that the anti-SNP vote is congregating against

particular parties. And of course there is this idea that we have

always had tactical voting but there are particular areas where it looks

as if the best candidate, the Unionist candidate, will be the one

in certain areas for example Edinburgh. Yes, I think we can

expect to see a nonaggression pact between Unionist parties in

Edinburgh which could if everything fell their way leave Edinburgh like

Berlin, divided into four zones. You would have the Liberal Democrats in

Edinburgh West, Tories in the south-west, Labour in Edinburgh

South and the SNP would be the largest group. Whether that actually

happens, a lot needs to go right for the Unionist parties for that

transpire, but it is possible, and we see a breakdown in tribalism,

particularly amongst Conservative voters who are happy to endorse a

Labour Liberal Democrat candidate if that's candidate is the person best

place to defeat the SNP, because you are either on team SNP, or team

anti-SNP in Scotland. But one of the big Scottish stories may well be

that what happens to Labour after this election, we don't know the

result is yet but there are certainly questions about whether

Corbyn should even be in the election literature. That party is

only defending one seat, and above South, and it is vulnerable. The

Labour Party fell to third yet again as they did further south, but my

reading of where we are at, is although the Labour Party is down in

Scotland, it is not quite out. It still managed to get a fifth of the

vote here, and the gap between them and the Conservatives is still

sufficiently narrow that actually the battle for who is going to be

the principal party of unionism in Scotland has not yet been won and

lost. Ten seconds, does Theresa May have to tread carefully in tone in

Scotland? In the long-term, yes. Whitehall, Westminster, Downing

Street are very good at next week, next month, but the battle of

Scotland will not be decided this year or even next year. This is a

matter for five years, ten year down the line. Thank you both very much

indeed. Let's hand over now

to David Grossman in Stevenage. Welcome to the Cromwell Hotel

in old Stevenage, a coaching in since the 16th century and once

the home of Oliver Cromwell's One secret nobody knows yet

is where this seat is heading It's currently Conservative,

but If Jeremy Corbyn can take it back, history suggests

he should be on course to win the election,

it's around 50 on any ARCHIVE NEWSREEL: Where better

to recapture the spirit of these ventures than at Stevenage,

Hertfordshire, where in the town centre, known as phase one

of the overall plan... A new town to help solve Britain's

post-war housing problems. The new A1 motorway and aerospace

jobs gave it a futuristic feel. It was the sort of place

Harold Wilson had high hopes for. The Britain that is going to be

forged in the white heat The answer to that is rather rude

to a minority of people... In 1964, a young hopeful

Shirley Williams became MP for the area, although boundary

changes mean it is a Since the seat of Stevenage

was created, whichever party has won here has gone

on to win the country. The victory of millionaire

Blairite Barbara Follett in 1997 was emblematic

of New Labour's triumph. At the last general election,

the Conservatives got 44.5% of the vote, with Labour

ten points behind. The Conservative majority of a shade

under 5000 votes may seem like a big enough mountain for Labour to scale

on its own, but consider this. At the last general election,

Ukip polled 6,800 votes here, and many of them could now

be in play. And according to the most

authoritative academic analysis, this area, Stevenage,

voted strongly to leave the EU. Another straw in the wind that

will make Labour sweat, as last week's local elections

Labour start of the night with five of the six Stevenage seats

on Hertfordshire County Council. By morning they had lost three

to the Conservatives. Now although Stevenage is home

to plenty of London commuters - it's just 25 minutes on the train

to Kings Cross - it's certainly not Lots of companies and

organisations do business here. Among them is the wine society,

a cooperative that's been making its members happy

by the bottle or Where better to assemble a group

of politically-engaged residents who have all at one time to voted

labour to taste test the current The wine society provided us

with some politically themed wines. The first item on our

agenda was to pick one That is going to be

hard to beat, I think. I'm very glad to say it

has got a screw top. I suppose if you were to put me

on the line I would probably be I would be fairly central

and you could argue may be leaning slightly to the right,

but I'm open to listening And seeing as to whether that is

the man I want to vote for. In the past I have mainly voted

either Liberal Democrat or green. Probably as I have got

older I have changed. I have been a Labour voter, I have

been a Liberal Democrat voter. I have probably veered a lot more

towards the Liberal Democrats. How do you view the Labour Party

at the moment, do you see them as someone you might be

giving your vote I view the Labour Party as a lot

of very different people who have I do not think we should

see the Labour Party We are a large group who have come

together and band together with the common aim to achieve

what we want. I am suspending my decision

until I know a bit more But at the moment for me it is very

much a leadership election. To be absolutely honest with you,

for the longest time I did not, I was one of these people

who did not pay much It is only within the past few years

where I have noticed how it is affecting the people around me

that I have taken And I'm now a fully paid-up

member of the Labour Party because Jeremy Corbyn actually

grabbed hold of me, as it And those things that

I was unhappy about, How do you feel about

the Labour Party at this election, are they somebody you might end

up voting for? I would not dream whatsoever

of voting for the Labour Party as it He may well have, you know,

great qualities in Jeremy Corbyn, I think the country need somebody

that has gravitas. I think the country needs

somebody that can actually I think the Shadow Cabinet

is something at the moment that I could not entertain voting for,

whether it is John McDonnell, all I think of the front bench team

do not have anything that gives me any belief that what

they say, I can believe. I think we would be a laughing

stock on the world stage. What is going to inform your

vote at this election? The focus on our services

within the country. I know there is a whole big talk

about Brexit and it seems to be an election about Brexit

at the minute. You have got the Conservatives

saying they are the ones that are going to push for it

were the other parties would not. But I feel we are losing track

of the services around our local towns and the country and the NHS

and things like that. So that is going to be

what is important for me. I voted to leave because I

think Europe is a con. I didn't vote because there

are too many people coming It is a bosses club and I'm

not a boss so I didn't If you go into negotiation you need

to have a clear idea of what you want and what you're

trying to achieve. And what you do not want is being

undermined by your own party And I have not seen much evidence

of that up until now. I would like to pick up something

that Charlie said earlier on, that's actually the general election

is not all about Brexit. Brexit is important,

but if we are not careful we will lose sight of all the other

things that we actually need But Brexit, we have a job to do,

we need somebody that's And somebody that actually has a job

and gets on and does it. And Theresa May, do you think

she has leadership qualities? I think you certainly know

what she wants to achieve and I think she certainly has more

of the support of party than for Again this five or six weeks I think

is the chance to show what they're trying to achieve and how they're

going to do it. That was our own, I should say

unscientific gathering of voters. There is another month until polling

day so everything remains in play even if the polls suggest

it's all over. That's it from here,

let's go 200 miles back up the A1 While we have been on air, it has

emerged that President Trump has sacked James Komi, the director of

the FBI, apparently on the advice of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Mark

Urban is back in the studio in London and joins us now. How did

this newsbreak? Remarkably, about half an hour go from the White House

press secretary Sean Spicer. The correspondence was then released.

President Trump sending a letter to director Komi saying he had been

terminated, and in a typical Trump fashion, thanking him for saying he

wasn't a subject of the investigation into his campaigns

Russia ties, and putting the onus on his Attorney General. That put the

onus on the deputy Attorney General, who actually said the director of

the FBI was being fired because he had declared Hillary Clinton to be

in the clear last summer on the e-mail saga, and that shouldn't have

been done by an FBI director, said the deputy Attorney General. Where

does this leave the FBI? Locked, as you can see, in this battle with the

Justice Department, whoever succeeds, there is this trial going

on, it is a bureaucratic trough of dominance, the Justice Department

plays that role of the Director of Public Prosecutions, in this country

they decide these things. At this incredibly sensitive time when the

FBI is investigating allegations of ties between President Trump's

campaign and Russian intelligence, and there is also the whole

political background to this. People on all sides of this has been

blaming James Comey. Hillary Clinton blamed him for flip-flopping on the

e-mails issued just before the election. An extraordinary crisis

really leaving big questions for whoever takes the helm at the FBI

about how they keep the Russia investigation credible. Mark, thank

you. I dare say we will have more on that tomorrow, but that is it for

tonight. In case you didn't know,

today was the first day of nominations if you want to stand

as a candidate in You have till Thursday at 4pm

to make your intentions known We dug up a little guide to how

in the Pathe library which we feel hasn't dated

at all since it was made in 1950. Any potential candidate must be

a British subject over 21 and sponsored by ten voters

in the district. He must deliver his nomination

papers to the returning officer and deposit ?150 in cash as proof

of his serious intention. This is a precaution against

the waste of public time and money. Freak candidates are dissuaded

by this deposit, because the money is forfeited if the candidate fails

to poll more than one eighth Let us think before we vote,

and if you can't think, But in fact, few independent

candidates are freaks. Often they are well

known public figures. For example, Commander

Stephen King-Hall. Good evening. The skies are clear,

it is turning chilly. The good news is that Wednesday is looking

beautiful across most of the UK, but it will be a chilly start. These are

the temperatures first thing on Wednesday in city centres. These

temperatures just outside of town, enough for some grass frost in rural

areas. Mind the sunshine, it is strong this time of year, just as

strong as it is in July, so you might burn if you are out for a

lengthy period of time. There will be cloud around in northern parts of

Scotland, but other than that it is looking like a stunning afternoon,

and a fine evening on the way as well, Wednesday night into Thursday.

Then it is all change from Thursday onwards, we are anticipating thicker

cloud drifting in from the south-west and we will start to see

the cloud building, showers affecting southern counties, some of

them moving into Wales and the Midlands, but most of them should be

light, many of us with a dry and sunny day again on Thursday, with

humidity rising, and you will notice that certainly by the time we get to

Friday, it will feel close, and there is a risk of some

thunderstorms developing almost anywhere across England and Wales.

Temperatures despite the cloud and rain will get up to 90 degrees in

the south, teams in the North, but