General election: Tory victory ‘will not strengthen May’s Brexit hand’

The U.K.’s snap general election is good for the EU, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said after meeting Theresa May in London Thursday.

“There is no doubt whatsoever that Theresa May called this election not for all the bogus reasons she claimed about needing a mandate for Brexit”, said Mr Farron.

May, who had taken charge as Prime Minister just weeks after Britain’s voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, had repeatedly dismissed the idea of an early election.

May became prime minister after the country voted in a June referendum to leave the bloc, prompting her predecessor, David Cameron, to resign.

While many critics of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union hope that an early general election will give them a chance to obstruct the process, opinion polls suggest it will do the opposite, strengthening May’s power to force through any deal she negotiates. “It is the Conservatives, the party of privilege and the richest versus the Labour Party the party that is standing up for working people to improve the lives of all”, he said.

“I believe in campaigns where politicians actually get out and about and meet the voters”, she said.

“If you look at the timetable, had the election been in 2020 we would have been coming up to the most crucial part of the negotiations, at the end of the negotiations, in what would be starting to be the run-up to a general election”.

May’s Conservatives, who were split on the issue of European Union membership ahead of last year’s referendum, are now far ahead of Labour, the main opposition party, according to opinion polls.

“Getting her own mandate will be a boost for the Brexit negotiations – as well as setting a strong agenda on health, education and and defence”.

May told MPs the upcoming snap election will be about leadership and stability, saying: “I will be asking for the public’s support to deliver my plan for a stronger Britain”.

After the speech, a spokeswoman for the leader said Labour’s position, backing a “meaningful vote” in Parliament, had not changed but did not explicitly rule out a second referendum.

“This election is a vote for Brexit and a vote for Theresa May and her leadership”.

“We haven’t threatened to turn Britain into an offshore tax haven on the shores of Europe, undermining the European economy”. May’s decision for earlier elections could help push plans in Scotland to hold another referendum on independence in a bid to remain in the EU.

“She would be less at risk of being taken hostage by supporters of a “hard Brexit”… and we will see what she really wants to do”, said Ignacio Molina, of the Elcano Royal Institute think tank in Madrid.

“She looked across the despatch box and thought “I can not resist the temptation of taking on Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party – the most ineffective opposition in inter-planetary history”.

“I will be debating these issues publicly across the country”, she told Parliament.