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):
(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.