A democrat in congress from georgia and yet, the party is still claiming victory. Well explain. Not another one for gods sake, i can stand it. And. If youre feeling a case of Election Fatigue you are not alone. Going back to the ballot box isnt sitting well with everyone in the uk. Im Christian Fraser in london, katty kays in new york. Its less than two years since britains last general election, ten months since the brexit referendum, nine months since theresa may entered Downing Street and in case you are counting, its 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 Ministers Snap Election. The ayes to the right 522. The noes to the left 13. Opposition mps 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. Lets 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, lets 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 todays twists and turns at westminster. David camerons 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 weve 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 shes 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. Theyre bound should pave the divorce bill. They re bound to should pave the divorce bill. Theyre bound to try it on but theres 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 Trumps 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, theyre 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. Theres 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 president ial election. And the Big Question Is Whether france is heading for the kind of seismic change weve 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 shes 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, theres no way even you will have 1 rise on the kind of attacks weve 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. Lets 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 b