to see how 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 different, it is more

chaotic, spontaneous, unpredictable, you need to show agility and an ability to be spontaneous. i would like to think that the prime minister of the day who is now going to go into this very context negotiation with 27 other governments and parliament s should seem to have the agility and the quicksilver skills which are necessary to complete that negotiation. and in failing to participate in tv debates, she is failing to put herself through a test which she should rightly be expected to endure. with me is polly mackenzie, who was a former special adviser to nick clegg during the 2010 general election tv debates. good to see you, thanks for coming in. is cleggmania yourfault good to see you, thanks for coming in. is cleggmania your fault caused the i think it did put the other parties after bates, although what did really happened was that the other parties unleashed the dogs of war, and within a week, he was being

accused of being a nazi sympathiser, and the lib dem is lost seats in the 2010 election. but the point was he did really well on camera in relation to gordon brown and david cameron. i think it demonstrated the idea that having the debate offered up idea that having the debate offered upa idea that having the debate offered up a platform to open up the conversations wasn't just about simple choices, but there was an alternative, there was nick clegg, and that was in a way, in 2015 it was very different, there was a seven way leaders debate, all of this chaos and noise, and there was even the opposition partys' debate, unbelievably noisy and confusing, and that played into the conservatives hands, because their narrative in 2015 which theresa may is trying to wheel out again is that it is stability with the conservatives or chaos with the other lot, but even if she does get the empty chair treatment, seeing

sensible theresa may versus noise and chaos, that is the message she wants. and even if she is empty chaired, won't that make the broadcaster look weird? according to the polls, she is ahead. it could well be that the prime minister, or the person who ends up winning the election, hasn't been seen in a debate and yet everyone else has. election, hasn't been seen in a debate and yet everyone else hasm isa debate and yet everyone else hasm is a bit strange, there is now this big game of chicken between the broadcasters and the prime minister. but with nick clegg, i have been up against theresa may in negotiations, and you don't really want to be in a game of chicken with her. i don't think she will cave. it might make the broadcasters look silly if they are willing to do that, but she is not one for turning on this. what you make of her reasoning that she speaks before the country every wednesday at prime minister's questions? as nick was saying, it is

cynical. it serves her interest because she doesn't really want to do the debates, she doesn't want to open up the conversation, but i think she can probably get away with it because the difference between herand it because the difference between her and david cameron is that the debates were david cameron's idea, he wanted to get out of them in 2015 and he couldn't because it was his idea and it was embarrassing to be the guy who brought the debates of the guy who brought the debates of the uk and they went out, theresa may has never been interested, she has this narrative that she is a different kind of politician, she seems to be very well liked, so she can probably get away with it. for some people, the debates are seen as trivialising the campaign, as such a huge moment within the campaign that a lot of other stuff gets squeezed out. i don't think that is true. debates could be valuable, putting leaders under scrutiny, forces them

to do some real work, analysing their messages and the details of their messages and the details of their policy. if theresa may says what she's going to do is go door—to—door, that is a lot of private conversations, and i don't think she will manage all the viewers she would hit in the debate. i think it is a shame for our democracy not to have that level of conversation between the party leaders, but i don't think it is going to happen. it is almost 60 yea rs going to happen. it is almost 60 years since the americans first had their presidential debate, and of course it is a lot easier, there are only two candidates running for the topjob. although only two candidates running for the top job. although there was the one occasion when there was a third candidate, but it is a lot simpler there and they have had a lot more time to try to work it out. do you think we arejust time to try to work it out. do you think we are just still behind the curve in trying to establish the ground rules for this? to be able to compel the main candidates to be pa rt compel the main candidates to be part of its it does become a firm fixture of any political campaign?”

think we are very different from the americans, everything is televised in america, including the courts, so if they don't happen in this election, there is a real danger that theyjust disappear election, there is a real danger that they just disappear completely, which is a real shame, but you do see in america when you have the primary debates, choosing the democratic or republican candidate when sometimes there are ten people, it turns into chaos. the problem is that we have potentially for ever fragmented politics and lots of parties, and whereas the 2010 election debates, the three debates, three leaders, quite simple, easy to grab hold of, in 2015, it was sound and fury, really, only to leader perhaps had 20 seconds of saying something wise and memorable, and it started to lose its coherence. unless our politics changes to having a similar set of parties, it is hard to see how you would make debates work. it would be easy for

it to become unwieldy. who do you see as benefiting the most from a potential clash of leaders in a televised debate? expectations for jeremy corbyn if there was a debate would be so low that he probably just needs to not fall over in order to exceed them, so he might do 0k, but in 2015 ed miliband did in fact trip over himself getting off the stage, so maybe jeremy corbyn wouldn't achieve that level accomplishment. but tim farron would probably want to just get out? ps champing at the bit and wants to be heard, he has a distinctive position, basically a single issue election about brexit, the labour party is trying to turn it into an nhs election simply because they don't really have an opinion on brexit, they are totally divided. for once this is a single issue election on an issue where the liberal democrats have a distinctive and coherent point of view to put

forward , and coherent point of view to put forward, and they are the only ones that you can turn to if you want to halt or soften exit. so being able to put that forward in a debate would benefit tim farron. it is a pleasure to see you, thank you. well, the snap election may see the political landscape change but will younger voters have a big say on the outcome? some weren't eligible to vote in either the 2015 general election or last year's eu referendum. but will their first vote, this time, result in seats changing hands across london? frankie mccamley has been finding out. in a snap general election, there is only one game to play to find out what these young voters will be looking out for on the 8th ofjune. yeah, theresa may. why not? well, the way i see it, she's like a mad head teacher. now she's called the election it's like, well, maybe thisjeremy corbyn might have an idea or labour or lib

dems. if you open up the floor, you don't know what people are going to say. she's taking a crazy risk, i think. it's notjust the people, it's also the services on offer. snap. i think the nhs is pretty great. i'm a massive fan of it because it's still free health care, there's going to be a lot of issues with it, i'll be looking for someone who can change waiting time. obviously, if you're critically ill, it would be amazing if you can get seen straightaway. if anyone's able to do that, that would be amazing. and what about the reason they're in college today? education. a few decades ago, people would go to uni because the degree would guarantee them a job when they left. i think it would be great for the universities to offerjob opportunities afterwards. but despite their opinions, official figures show in the last general election 18—24—year—olds had the smallest turnout at the polls. just 43% casted their vote in 2015.

the 65 and overs had the biggest turnout of nearly 80%. 0n social media, some celebrities have been focusing on young voters, urging 18 to 2a—year—olds notjust to register but to take control of their future. the question is will it make a difference in colleges like this one? the answer, well, we have to wait around seven weeks for that. we have and are news coming up. first the weather with tomasz schafernaker. another quiet evening, and for the remainder of the week, the weather will remain settled. it will stay pretty cloudy, and in fact a lot of cloud out there across the atlantic

ready to swing our way. most of the cloud today has been across more northern parts of the country, but that cloud is no moving a little further south, so even here it will tend to become overcast a little later on. tonight it is not going to be particularly cold, a lot of cloud across the uk, few spots of rain moving through, and temperatures won't go any lower than eight or nine celsius in most city centres. in the south, a little bit fresher because the skies will be clear for longer. then tomorrow morning, lots of sunshine again across the south, little like today. temperatures around eight or nine celsius, it feels fine and central areas, wales, the midlands, into yorkshire, lincolnshire, i think a little more cloud, maybe spots of rain and generally speaking the rest of the country moving northwards, a fair bit of cloud through the course of thursday morning. and into the

afternoon we will see some of that cloud sinking southwards, so not quite so sunny tomorrow. we will see more cloud than blue sky on thursday, temperatures more or less the same, perhaps a little higher across northern areas. then on friday a subtle difference in the north, a bit of a change, we are expecting some rain moving into the western isles, but not so much across eastern parts of scotland, dribs and drabs in the far north—west, and to the size of that, thick cloud for most of us, temperatures getting up to 17 degrees potentially. high—pressure establish is itself at the weekend, it doesn't mean clear blue skies but it doesn't mean clear blue skies but it doesn't mean clear blue skies but it does mean settled weather, light winds and even if the cloud breaks up, it should feel fairly pleasant. but the far north of the country sta rts but the far north of the country starts to see pretty chilly air coming in behind the cold for that would have swept through. early next week, sunday into monday, a nasty area of low pressure sweeps into

scotland, but this forecast could change. this is bbc news. the headlines at 8pm... ice to the right, 522. the noes to the left, 13. mps vote overwhelming in support of a snap general election to be held on june eighth. campaigning has already started, with both major party leaders visiting voters in key constituencies across the uk. it's about providing the strong and sta ble it's about providing the strong and stable leadership this country needs to ta ke stable leadership this country needs to take britain through brexit and beyond. it's about strengthening our hand in the negotiations that lie ahead. the labour council in croydon is building council housing. cheering i want cheering iwanta cheering i want a labour glove that builds council housing. cheering the former chancellor george osborne will quit as an mp to