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Various news outlets are reporting that the UK's prime minister, Theresa May, has called for a general election to be held on 8 June. The Conservative Party Web site has a transcript of her public statement, which can also be heard in a video.
The call for a snap election has now been backed by parliament.
May surprised allies and opponents [...] when she announced her plan to bring forward an election that was not due until 2020, saying she needed to avoid a clash of priorities in the sensitive final stages of the two-year Brexit talks.
After addressing a rowdy session of the House of Commons, May won the support of 522 lawmakers in the 650-seat parliament for an election on June 8. Only 13 voted against.
With May seen winning a new five-year mandate and boosting her majority in parliament by perhaps 100 seats, the pound held close to six-and-a-half month highs on hopes she may be able to clinch a smoother, more phased departure from the EU and minimise damage to the UK economy.
[...] The former interior minister, who became prime minister without an election when her predecessor David Cameron quit after last year's referendum vote for Brexit, enjoys a runaway lead over the main opposition Labour Party in opinion polls.
This is a notable change from the position taken over the last few months where May had said after the EU referendum, a "period of stability" was needed. "There isn’t going to be one. It isn’t going to happen. There is not going to be a general election," said the prime minister's spokesman less than a month ago.
Coverage (many of these are editorials):
- The Sun
- New Statesman
- New Statesman
- The Independent
- The Independent
- The Guardian
- The Telegraph
- The New York Times
- The Irish Times
- BBC News
- Daily Mail
(Score: 4, Funny) by isostatic on Monday April 24 2017, @01:17PM (15 children)
Speedy news. In other news, Windows XP was launched recently, hoping to bridge the gap between the much decrying windows ME and the business OS Windows 2000.
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Monday April 24 2017, @01:36PM (12 children)
Sure, it's modded funny, but this was actually the first I'd heard of it.
(Score: 2) by lx on Monday April 24 2017, @01:43PM (1 child)
You've just answered David's question [youtube.com].
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Monday April 24 2017, @03:42PM
It's really weird how this slipped me by. I'm not normally this blind to current affairs. But there's definitely something to be said for things like Netflix and gaming consuming a lot of my time not spent at work. Normally important news events would be discussed at lunch time, but this didn't come up at all. I think we (the Irish) are just getting a bit tired and bored of it all if nobody discussed it. Seems the golf got more discussion.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Monday April 24 2017, @03:49PM (9 children)
this was actually the first I'd heard of it.
Are you sure? I blocked ME from my mind over a decade ago
More seriously, if this really is the first you've heard of an election surrounding one of the largest economies of the world, especially in the context of the breakup of the largest economy in the world, you should probably look to broaden your sources of international news. I assume you're aware of the French elections yesterday?
(Score: 1) by moondoctor on Monday April 24 2017, @04:30PM
>"There isn’t going to be one. It isn’t going to happen. There is not going to be a general election," said the prime minister's spokesman less than a month ago
This is the first anybody heard about this election. The next election was expected years from now, not weeks. This came out of the blue and is pretty crazy. Nobody knew about it a week ago, let alone ten years. Could completely reshape the UK political landscape as the opposition party is writhing around on the floor and will very likely be demolished in spectacular fashion at this election. Interesting times indeed.
(Score: 2) by n1 on Monday April 24 2017, @07:13PM (4 children)
It came as a surprise to many when they read the fine print of the coverage that the French 'elections' were just a first round run-off for the candidates... The actual election/second round is not for another couple of weeks.
Additionally:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/marine-le-pen-front-national-stepping-down-leader-party-french-election-a7700286.html [independent.co.uk]
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by turgid on Monday April 24 2017, @08:01PM (2 children)
Marine Le Pen is a Nazi, pure and simple.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 25 2017, @01:07AM (1 child)
Pfft, everyone's a Nazi, that makes her the Nazi we need right now in troubled times.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Tuesday April 25 2017, @12:18PM
Putin, Farage, Trump, Wilders, Le Pen... The dirty fascist dog keeps pooping them out. Le Pen is particularly nasty. She's a Holocaust/history denier. She's a Nazi.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday April 25 2017, @09:31AM
It is, and it's really good when electing a single person. Not quite STV, but it has benefits that STV or AV or instant run-off doesn't have (and it has drawbacks - namely a second round)
Its a way to keep extremeists out of power, something we used to take seriously in Europe. You could have prefered Filon, the centre-right candidate, but as he didn't get the support, you'd rather have Macron, the centre-left candidate than Le Pen, the far-right candidate. This way the centre doesn't need to coaless around a single candidate to keep the extremists on both sides out. At least in theory.
In 2002 Front National, headed by another Le Pen (Marine's father), reached the final round, against Chirac. It was expected to be the usual sensible split, and many voted for smaller parties like the Greens. This meant that only Chirac got through to the second round, and Le Pen also got through. The country united behind Chirac, and he won something like 80:20.
In 2017 it almost failed completely, the two extreme candidates - Mélenchon and Le Pen, could have gone into the final round. That didn't happen, although based on the last 12 months I'm half expecting Le Pen to win the final vote.
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Monday April 24 2017, @09:13PM
I was actually! That was a more common topic of conversation than the PM vote. Weird.
(Score: 1) by butthurt on Monday April 24 2017, @10:28PM (1 child)
Submitter here. Yes, this story was delayed. What's all this about French elections? Last I heard, France was an absolute monarchy.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday April 25 2017, @01:26AM
I'm sorry to have to tell you: Someone stabbed Caesar...
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Monday April 24 2017, @04:21PM (1 child)
In other news, Windows XP was launched recently, hoping to bridge the gap between the much decrying windows ME and the business OS Windows 2000.
Little known fact, kids born after Windows 98 came out are going to vote in this election.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Tuesday April 25 2017, @10:32AM
sudo mod me up