Corbyn attacks May’s plan for snap election despite Parly backing

The early election is the latest twist a turbulent year in British politics, which was plunged into turmoil when the country unexpectedly voted to leave the European Union last year.

Mr Dunne added: “We need a strong, stable leader to chart us through these choppy waters ahead and the only time she could have a general election to give a strong mandate as prime minister is now”.

May surprised allies and opponents on Tuesday 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.

“That would be in nobody’s interest”, May said.

Although Parliament will not be officially dissolved until early May, campaigning is already under way – with Lib Dem leader Tim Farron addressing a rally of activists in south-west London earlier on Wednesday.

The opposition Labour Party and Liberal Democrats say they welcome the chance to put their policies to voters, though the Scottish National Party says the election call is a cynical ploy. Its lawmakers abstained during Wednesday’s vote.

The chief of the EU executive Jean-Claude Juncker and British Prime Minister Theresa May had a phone call Tuesday evening, following May’s call for early elections in June, a European Commission spokesman told a news conference.

May’s Conservatives now hold 330 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons. “The result is not certain”, she said in a speech at a GlaxoSmithKline factory in her constituency of Maidenhead. The Lib Dems now have just nine seats in Parliament.

And would-be Scottish National Party voters are the least impressed, with just 48% supporting the call to the polls.

With British voters going to the polls on June 8, the big parties did not want to waste any time ahead of the official launches of their election manifestos.

The European Union, meanwhile, said it will stick to a timetable for preparing to launch Brexit negotiations with the United Kingdom despite the early general election.

He dismissed Mrs May’s argument that she needs a fresh mandate to deliver Brexit, and said it was “extremely interesting” she had called for an election as the Crown Prosecution Service decides whether to press charges against a number of Tory MPs over allegations relating to 2015 election expenses.

Britain’s next national election is now scheduled for 2020, a year after the scheduled completion of two years of European Union exit talks.

May is expected to win the vote, and wants to hold an election on June 8.

May ruled out participating in televised debates with other leaders.

Local Labour Member of the European Parliament Alex Mayer, however, has welcomed the announcement of an early general election as the ideal opportunity to take the fight to the Conservatives.

One broadcaster, ITV, said it planned to hold a debate with or without the prime minister.

As had been widely predicted, UK Prime Minister Theresa May has been given the green light to proceed with a “snap” general election.