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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: 3, Interesting) by isostatic on Monday April 24 2017, @04:07PM (3 children)
If Lib Dems, SNP and Greens combined got 18 million votes, I would suggest all bets are off.
However the 2 largest parties, May's Conservatives and Corbyn's Labour are both angling for a hard brexit. The Lib Dems have fought and won massive swings in the byelections since June based on brexit -- in Witney (Cameron's old seat) the tories lost 15% of the vote, and the Lib Dems gained 22%. In Richmond the Lib Dems were up 30% and Tory was down 13%.
Both of those were special cases, however if those results were repeated with tory vote down 10%, labour down 5%, and lib dem vote up 20% (i.e less extreme), there would be about 280 lib dem MPs.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Tuesday April 25 2017, @10:37AM (2 children)
However the 2 largest parties, May's Conservatives and Corbyn's Labour are both angling for a hard brexit
No they're not. Labour wants to remain in the single market and retain all of the worker protection that the EU provides.
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday April 25 2017, @11:16AM
Actions speak louder than words, and so far they've been backing May to the hilt.
The massive increase in support for the Lib Dems since the referendum - including 30% swings to Lib Dems in remain constituencies, and even in Copeland which Labour lost in a near-unprecedented failure, there was a 9 point swing from Labour to Lib Dem.
Alas the tories have gone full UKIP and are hoovering all the ukip vote up. Labour also tried over the last year, have realised they've failed, and are now rowing round in circles.
Unfortunatly the Lib Dems are cocking up this election so far, no media presence at all.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday April 25 2017, @02:11PM
No they're not. Labour wants to remain in the single market and retain all of the worker protection that the EU provides.
They've seen the massive support that the Lib Dems are getting and want in.
However according to Kier Starmer, Labour wants the free movement of people would end. Therefore labour wants to leave the single market.
There's also the fact that we can't even begin to negotiate being in the customs union until we've actually left the EU (https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0120/846481-eu-brexit/)
Even in a bad situation, where the lib dems only get say 4 million votes, and the Tories get 400 seats, at least Corbyn will be out and we'll having someone like Umma as a proper opposition leader. If Corbyn wins another far-left momentum drive, then I hope the sensible people in Labour jump ship over the summer.