Also on the programme. Israel kills a top islamichhad leader in gaza and braces for retaliatory rocket attacks. After nine years at sea, a message in a bottle finally receives a response. Thankfully, it wasnt an 505. Hello and welcome. Im Christian Fraser in Bishop Auckland, and Michelle Fleury is in new york. We are just over a month from the uk general election and its in places like this County Durham where the vote could be won and lost. Bbc news will be visiting ten areas of the uk where seats will be closely contested. Today, weve travelled beyond the bubble to Bishop Auckland in the north east of england. Its a marginal labour seat which voted decisively for brexit. Well, yesterday the brexit party announced they would not run candidates in seats won by the conservatives in 2017. But they will stand in Bishop Auckland, making the seat even more marginal and more unpredictable. Last week, we were in leeds on the doorstep with the canvassers. This time, we have steered clear of the campaigns to try and get an unfiltered view, and i have been spoiling myself, michelle. I have been out for three meals breakfast, lunch and dinner. The 68 cafe sits at a fork high about the durham dales. Its on a trunk road, and in the mornings its owner paula is busy serving breakfast to those heading north, but she also has regulars from nearby Bishop Auckland, a town which in four weeks will find itself at a political crossroad. I am not voting just for brexit, which is why at the moment i am still really, really torn. There is a menu of options for people here right now, including a Brexit Party Candidate. In Bishop Auckland, nigel farage thinks he can take crucial votes from labour. He is making the wrong decision. If that is his tactic, he is making the wrong decision, he should withdraw and let it be that race. He is not stupid, he knows. Auckland castle was the seat of the prince bishops. For 750 years they ruled the Northern Frontier for the kings of england. It has been a labour stronghold in modern times, built on coal, and in every election since 1935 the town has voted the same way. The impregnable red wall is in danger of being breached. Since 2005, the labour majority has collapsed to just over 500, and if the tories are to have any chance of securing a majority this time, it is brexit seats like this that they have to take. The newly reopened castle is bringing welcome trade to the fifteas tea shop, where we meet rebecca and steve, who are decidedly undecided. Who will get us out of this the best . This is the north east, how can this be a target seats for the tories . I feel as though theres nobody i can trust at the moment, in terms the people available to us, in terms of labour, the conservatives, the other parties, there is nobody i have confidence in to take us forward. It is no longer black and white. 0ld political ties have frayed. 0ur would booking for dinner was at the three horseshoes, a coaching inn in nearby Barnard Castle that has stood here since the 17th century. Inside, farm labourer dean and bar worker kim, first time voters. If somebody came in and explains what they wanted, it would be an easier choice to make. At the moment, i dont understand what anyones doing. Im going to stick with boris, see if he can get the job done, hopefully. Hopefully. What happens if nigel farage puts in a Brexit Party Candidate . Good question. Nobody knows what the election will serve up, but a tory win in these parts would be the rarest of things. So lets take a closer look at the political make up of Bishop Auckland. As i mentioned in my report, medieval knights used to fight over this part of Northern England and next month the constituency will be hotly contested. The seat was held by labour in the last election and it is bordered by three other labour constituencies, plus one conservative and one independent. The labour incumbent, helen goodman, won byjust 502 votes in 2017. But will the party be able to retain the seat . Labour have held the seat since 1935 and 61 in the area voted leave in the eu referendum. It is now a target seat for the conservatives, who came second in the last election. Im joined now by catherine priestly, the chief reporter at the northern echo. This is her patch, and its big, 300 square miles it is a huge constituency, not just square miles it is a huge constituency, notjust the town of Bishop Auckland but four towns, a0 villages and a load of hill farms. So lots of people depend on critical services. Brexit dominates, but somebody today was talking about their hospital, and there is a lovely one in Bishop Auckland but they dont do anything fair. Yes, an a e service was downgraded and there is currently a fight to protect another ward and Stroke Rehabilitation Services there, a wonderful facility Rehabilitation Services there, a wonderfulfacility and Rehabilitation Services there, a wonderful facility and a lot of people would like to see better use made of it, not future loss. So they have to go to darlington . Growth durham or darlington, yes. When you ta ke durham or darlington, yes. When you take services out of a market town like this that has seen a lack of investment, people really feel it, dont they, and normally they take it out on the incumbent government, but thats not what we are seeing this time. Traditionally, being a labour stronghold for so long, i think a lot of voters would look to labour to represent them with those issues, those services that they would expect labour to represent better and fight for their corner. Like you said, brexit is dominating. 61 of people here voted to leave, and yet the incumbent was a remain. Why is that . Do they think, until we get this sorted, the issues we care about will be put on the back burner . I think that is a fear, and the back burner . I think that is a fear, and i think a lot of people would look to labour, to the current incumbent, to represent them with thoseissues incumbent, to represent them with those issues and, if she is not representing them on the biggest decision that theyve made, you know, voting to leave the eu, then can she really succeed on those other issues . Can she really make the improvements they beat her to . What about the wider region . This is a bellwether town, if you will. Are there other towns in the north east with similar issues . Most towns in the north east have the same issues, but this whole area is trying to build a Bright Future for itself. Its a wonderful place, wonderful pa rt its a wonderful place, wonderful part of the country, fantastic places to see, a huge heritage project in this town, but with other towns in this actual constituency that are trying to move forward, build themselves new futures, celebrating their heritage, but moving on, you know. What about the big issue, the idea that the brexit party will stand candidates in constituencies like these, not once the conservatives are in control but once where labour are in control . Will they go from labour or the conservatives . I think some labour voters will feel they need to get brexit done, which is the strong message from the conservative candidate, that she is the one that candidate, that she is the one that can help get that done, and they wont feel able to vote for the conservatives. It just wont feel able to vote for the conservatives. Itjust goes against the grainfora conservatives. Itjust goes against the grain for a lot of photos here, soi the grain for a lot of photos here, so i think the brexit candidate and lib dems candidates are likely to pick upa lib dems candidates are likely to pick up a few labour voters. Thank you for that, Catherine Priestley from the northern echo. A lot of people today have been talking about that Brexit Party Candidate and which way people might vote. Yes, the idea of tactical voting and which way, this is an election about brexit, whether you or remain, so does your vote goes tactical . The other striking thing to me is not just the tactical voting but also the pacts we are seeing with these parties, the brexit party and the conservatives, and also the lib dems, who have done an agreement with the greens and plaid cymru, so i dont know how efficient or effective that impact will be. I think, looking at tactical voting, it stands to reason it should be easier on the brexit side than the remain side, because there are four 01 remain side, because there are four or five parties remain side, because there are four orfive parties on remain side, because there are four or five parties on the remain side, because there are four orfive parties on the remain remain side, because there are four or five parties on the remain site and if the brexit party werent it would be a straight choice. Ive looked at two opinion polls today and there is evidence that actually the brexit party only marginally pulls more from labour than the conservatives and, in the same surveys , conservatives and, in the same surveys, if you look at where labour leave photos go, most of them go to the conservatives rather than the brexit party, so what nigel farage is saying when he says, i pull principally from labour, the information doesnt back that up. I think thejury is information doesnt back that up. I think the jury is out. And the question is, if you do yourself at completely, what is the purpose of the brexit party . The impeachment inquiry into donald trump is about to cross into New Territory that could determine the future of his presidency. Three Administration Officials are set to testify this week in public hearings. Until now, all testimonies have taken place behind closed doors. The inquiry, led by the democrats, focuses on whether President Trump abused his power by threatening to withhold military aid from ukraine unless it investigated former Vice President joe biden and his son, hunter. The first two people due to appear before congress on wednesday are william taylor, the top us diplomat in ukraine, and george kent, Deputy Assistant secretary for european and eurasian affairs. And on friday, former Us Ambassador to ukraine Marie Yovanovitch is scheduled to testify. Meanwhile, donald trump has announced plans to probably release another transcript of his conversation with ukraines president zelenskiy at some point today or before the end of the week. For more on all the latest twists and turns, were joined from washington by natalie andrews, congressional reporter at the wall stjournal. Thank you forjoining us on the programme, natalie. Here we are at the start of these public hearings, a significant moment. I guess its worth taking a bit of time to look at this poll. The trump impeachment enquiry, how do people feel its being handled . At the moment, democrats in Congress Getting a8 in the poll from cbs, donald trump getting a3 . Those are the stakes. How much that change as we go into the public hearings . This is really what democrats and republicans are preparing to do, make this case and try and move the needle one way or the other, because most polls have shown there is a split, with democrats supporting it and republicans not, so these hearings are republicans not, so these hearings a re really, republicans not, so these hearings are really, for democrats, about making a case that going into this impeachment enquiry was a good idea and important for america and, for the republicans, they want to make the republicans, they want to make the case that the evidence is not fair, that what the president is being accused of did not happen in the way the democrats say it did. In this new phase, where it is all open, that will be the time to do that. You say the republicans are making their case. How significant is it they are bringing on boardjim jordan to the Intelligence Committee . Very significant, this is an attack dog for the president. Donald trump did somebody who was clearly readied to go on tv, attack democrats, make this a fight, and thatis democrats, make this a fight, and that is whatjim jordan does and what he has been doing through there. Also, withjim what he has been doing through there. Also, with jim jordan joining there. Also, with jim jordan joining the committee, you have his attorney, stephen costa, who was pa rt attorney, stephen costa, who was part of the Benghazi Select Committee questioning, he was also pa rt committee questioning, he was also part of the fast and furious investigation. This is a republican investigator who works for the Oversight Committee but will be expected to do a lot of the questioning tomorrow. Its worth pointing out to people that this is a moment in history. This has only happened three times before. Why do you think the democrats selected these specific two witnesses . M you think the democrats selected these specific two witnesses . It is interesting these two are coming first, but they both can kind of explain a whole overview of the big picture, so phil taylor can talk about how he came to the understanding that a00 billion of aid was on hold until ukraine announced they were going to do investigations. Bill taylor. That was the understanding among diplomats in ukraine, and he will talk about how it came to believe that. The meetings he was in where that. The meetings he was in where that was said, and why that was the understanding, even if the trump administrations says it was not. George kent will talk about the effort to oust the former ambassador. He will talk about how he saw multiple diplomatic channels being started, the official channel and channel with Rudy Giuliani that was trying to get these investigations to happen. So these two witnesses together will really weigh out the democrats case, and from friday we will hear from the previoUs Ambassador, and there will be more hearings next week, wejust dont know who will be coming. Thank you very much for laying the ground for us. Well, with those impeachment hearings looming, a short time ago President Trump was not far from me at the Economic Club of new york. Well, with those impeachment hearings looming, a short time ago he spoke about rolling back regulations, bashed the fed chair and spoke about what it would take to keep a competitive edge. The world is a place of fierce competition. We are competing against other nations forjobs, Industry Growth and prosperity. Factories and businesses will always find a home. Its up to us to decide whether that home will be in a foreign country or right here, in our country. Joining us now from new york is our business correspondent, samira hussain. She has been listening to that talk. 0bviously she has been listening to that talk. Obviously the president is keen to tout his economic credentials, especially as he goes into the 2020 election, but how much credit can he take . That is exactly right, he is certainly looking at the economy is something he can really use as he goes into the 2020 president ial elections, and he did certainly want to ta ke elections, and he did certainly want to take a lot of credit for the way the us economy has been going lately, talking about the gains that youve seen on us financial markets, calling them the biggest gains hed ever seen. Hes talked about the Unemployment Rate and how low it is, and infact Unemployment Rate and how low it is, and in fact he is really talking a lot about the job gains youve seen. Certainly, you can say, look, there have been a lot ofjob gains made during the trump administration, but they will always be debate about how much of that has to do specifically with the administration and how much has to do with policies put in place beforehand. The figures look good for him, the dowjones hitting more records, unemployment at record lows, but we have had rumblings in the last few weeks that, come next year, when we get into 2020 and the campaign, they will be looking at the numbers in those rust belt states and the numbers could move against him. Thats a good point, and its something i put to a lot of people that attended the speech. He was talking to a pretty warm crowd, investors, people on wall street, business leaders, people really attuned to the economy and generally supporters of mr trump, so i even put that question to some of the people there, why had they come to the speech and whether or not they we re the speech and whether or not they were worried about the economy and, by and large, a lot of the people said they were not worried at all about the economy and were feeling very confident going into the president ial elections that this is a president that could really whether any kind of storm that the economy may bring. And, one thing we often hear about is china and how big a threat it is to the us, and there is that a dispute at the moment. Trump say anything on that that would please the audience . Certainly, he mentioned the trade dispute and he said, look, the two sides are very close to a phase one ofa sides are very close to a phase one of a trade deal. That is, of course, welcome news to a lot of business leaders, but weve kind of heard this before several times about the idea that they are getting close to a deal but, ultimately, nobody is really going to do anything until the two sides put something out, and thatis the two sides put something out, and that is what everybody is waiting forand, of that is what everybody is waiting for and, of course, the pressure is on mrtrump now for and, of course, the pressure is on mr trump now we are seeing a lot of businesses expressing concern about this trade war and the damage it is having in the united states, so there