petitefrancaise

Theresa May to seek snap election for 8 June - BBC News

petitefrancaise

I can't believe the statement she gave:
1. Just about every single arm of our Parliamentary has vowed to de-rail Brexit. Apart from Tories. What does this tell us?
2. How the heck she can complain about "unelected" people in the House of Lords? She is an unelected prime minister.
3. Even Mrs May was against Brexit prior to the referendum.
4. Brexit has not happened yet so her nonsense about how it hasn't affected the UK is irrelevant.
Personally, I think she knows she is up the creek on it and is seeking a way out.

Anyone else notice the very thatcherite phrases (we will not be turning back???)

NiHao

I hope this will all back fire on Theresa May.

So cunning the way she insisted, multiple times, that there would be no General Election until 2020 and then, AFTER triggering Article 50 and BEFORE we know what Brexit is really going to look like (well we know it will be a disaster just not the specifics) she hey presto gives 7 weeks notice of a General Election.

neill

In my mind it's a 2nd and final referendum, if the country *really* has changed its mind, people need to get out and vote for any of the others.

markonline1

If she was unelected, she wouldn't be Prime Minister. You vote for a local MP in the UK, not the leader of the country. As for thinking she's up the creek, not an image I'm getting at all. She seems one of the most self assured, confident, and dare I say competent PM's for a while.
I totally agree with Neil's comment too. She wins this election, she can say she has the mandate to lead the negotiations for the terms of of Britains Brexit. Yes, she may have been against Brexit, although she kept rather quiet about it, but whether you agree with it or not, it was voted for, it's gonna happen. I'd rather have her in charge that one of those Brexiteer idiots like Boris!

scrubbedexpat142

Theresa May’s speech on Brexit: full text | Conservative Home

Contrast this with her pronouncements since the referendum. I know a lady has the preregotative to change her mind, but there are limits!

cranston

Legally you are correct, culturally you are not.

It's not the Queensbury rules of how things are done and such PM are consider by many, not all, as 2nd class PMs.

nun

My predictions.

Tories get bigger majority;
Labour loses lots of seats;
Lib-Dems gain quite a few seats....but not enough to make any difference;
SNP and Plaid Cymru do very well.

Everyone is looking at this as another Brexit vote, but it might also give some added momentum to the nationalist parties and make a joke of of May's rhetoric about "bringing the country together."

markonline1

Ministers come and go every reshuffle. People don't call for elections then. Unless of course people believe the ministers of these various departments just sit there and do what they are told by the prime minister. It's happened 3 times in my lifetime alone, and whereas the previous 2 were seen as being pretty poor, I can't help but think it's because their parties had been in power for a decade or more beforehand. I'm just hearing on NPR now, she has a 20 point lead over Corbyn, so I think this is a great idea, but I always shake my head at the unelected leader jibes (although I don't think Brown had to go through a party election did he? Blair just passed the power to him).

mrken30

I may be wrong, but weren't most the Brexit supporters/voters anti Tory?

robin1234

UKIP?
I assume they won't do particularly well, since they are a one trick pony and their trick is now government policy and finished with ...? But they had a hefty vote in 2015, coming in second or third in many constituencies, so their vote tally (up or down a couple of thousand) could make a difference to the result in many of the constituencies.

Twinkle0927

My proxy vote papers are in the mail today. Hope they get processed in time. Anyone know how long it takes to be set up with a proxy? Don't trust the postal vote system.

yellowroom

I think this is the most likely outcome. Sadly, under Corbyn, Labour are not a credible opposition, and I say this with a heavy heart as someone who is "old labour".

IMHO it would be a thing of beauty if in key English constituents we could have the "not Tory" parties agreeing to field one candidate between them to give focus for the pro-EU, pro-NHS, anti-cuts to disability benefits, centre/centre-left votes, rather than them being scattered between Lib-Dems, Labour and Greens.

But Tim Farron has already said he won't work with Corbyn, so any hope of a Centre/Centre-Left coalition seems doomed before we even start.

nun

The LibDems have had bad coalition experiences and, seriously, would you want to hook up with Labour/Corbyn right now? LibDems should concentrate on the center ground and maybe they can pick up some Blarites and Tory remainers and get 20 or 30 more MPs.

The third party isn't the LibDems anyway...it's the SNP. They have 54 out of the 59 Scottish seats so they can't increase their number of MPs much, but if they get an even bigger share of the vote they will use that in the push for an independence referendum.

robin1234

I could be wrong since I don't follow UK political news closely - but haven't Labour settled for a wishy-washy pro-brexit stance, in the hope of retaining their traditional voters many of whom are pro-brexit? In other words I can't see Labour joining a "pro-EU" popular front, whatever Tim Farron says...