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UK PM Theresa May announces plan to call snap general election on 8 June.

gunner

gunner

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With the Labour Party in absolute disarray, you really can't argue with the PMs decision. The question of course, is how bad will the defeat be for Labour?


May to seek snap election for 8 June - May to seek snap election for 8 June - BBC News
 
An amazing decision; this could end up being a 2nd referendum on Brexit if any opposition parties can rally the Remain vote behind it (and get the young voting this time round)

Not sure this is the wise decision - she had Parliament behind her on all the votes so far.

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BBC playing May interview by Andrew Marr "I won't be holding a snap election..."
 
On the other hand, it's an opportunity for the people to give a final rejection of Brexit. She also has to change Cameron's election law.
 
Boy this is ballsy.. This will be about Brexit no doubt about that. It could tear the Conservative party apart in a very public way. Of course politically with Labour in utter shambles, it might look tempting, but it can backfire.
 
PeteEU said:
Boy this is ballsy.. This will be about Brexit no doubt about that. It could tear the Conservative party apart in a very public way. Of course politically with Labour in utter shambles, it might look tempting, but it can backfire.
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Ballsy? With the opposition, I think it is a sensible decision on her part. Personally, I see it as a fast track to rid Labour of Corbyn.
 
gunner said:
Ballsy? With the opposition, I think it is a sensible decision on her part. Personally, I see it as a fast track to rid Labour of Corbyn.
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Because it can and most likely will backfire. It will be about Brexit, the mean Tories and nothing else.

As for Corbyn, May would want him to stick around and holding an election will change that.

Now it could also be a move to unseat a ton of backbench-er Brexit people... we shall see.
 
gunner said:
With the Labour Party in absolute disarray, you really can't argue with the PMs decision. The question of course, is how bad will the defeat be for Labour?


May to seek snap election for 8 June - May to seek snap election for 8 June - BBC News
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If I were Labour I wouldn't give her the election, but they appear to believe they can damage the Tories and will give her the opportunity. Bad politics all round.

Bad politics from May. June 2016: "No snap election." September 2016: "No snap election." February 2017: "No snap election." April 2017: "Um. Err. Snap election, I think." No changed circumstances, Article 50 triggered, negotiations under way and now she looks at the polls, realises that post-Brexit she's probably toast and suddenly all those promises are worth breaking. Cynical, self-serving and really damaging to British interests in the Brexit negotiations.

Bad politics from Corbyn. It's one thing to be prepared to take on the Tories, it's quite another to allow them to dictate the timing and territory of the election campaign when they don't have to. Labour says "no snap election", there's no snap election. What benefit does Corbyn believe Labour could take from this? The best they can possibly hope for is that the Tories get just a slim majority. Seems very foolish to me.
 
Andalublue said:
If I were Labour I wouldn't give her the election, but they appear to believe they can damage the Tories and will give her the opportunity. Bad politics all round.

Bad politics from May. June 2016: "No snap election." September 2016: "No snap election." February 2017: "No snap election." April 2017: "Um. Err. Snap election, I think." No changed circumstances, Article 50 triggered, negotiations under way and now she looks at the polls, realises that post-Brexit she's probably toast and suddenly all those promises are worth breaking. Cynical, self-serving and really damaging to British interests in the Brexit negotiations.

Bad politics from Corbyn. It's one thing to be prepared to take on the Tories, it's quite another to allow them to dictate the timing and territory of the election campaign when they don't have to. Labour says "no snap election", there's no snap election. What benefit does Corbyn believe Labour could take from this? The best they can possibly hope for is that the Tories get just a slim majority. Seems very foolish to me.
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Yes, it seems there may have to be a vote requiring 3/4 mandate.

Funny thing is that May has apparently made this a Brexit general election - so after Fallon and Clegg etc being criticised for asking for a second referendum: this is exactly what May is doing.

Going to be interesting to see how the parties and local politicians position themselves. I may find myself looking for the Remain candidate and ignoring party political lines.

PeteEU said:
Because it can and most likely will backfire. It will be about Brexit ~
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May seems to have made this about Brexit primarily.
 
All we need is a simple majority and declare Independence after all we got 56 of the 59 seats last time round and campaign on these grounds. We will campaign on the grounds of a simple majority of SNP MPs = Independence i would like to see Westminster to try and block it either way the UK is finished .... much sooner than we hoped :)
 
Yay I'm really excited for another election :doh
 
There's obviously a hope of May's to consolidate (even increase) power before bad Brexit news (as in early shadows of lousy negotiation results appearing) begin to rock the boat.

A gamble that could backfire, but she obviously fancies its chances.
 
Chagos said:
There's obviously a hope of May's to consolidate (even increase) power before bad Brexit news (as in early shadows of lousy negotiation results appearing) begin to rock the boat.

A gamble that could backfire, but she obviously fancies its chances.
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Yea but the whole election will be about Brexit and immigration. Will the media help the Tories to cover up some damaging facts about Brexit and immigration or will it become the key part of the election yet again.

Just imagine if companies start announcing even more job losses to the EU.. If I were the EU, I would quickly get their negotiation basis finalised and push the narrative that free movement of peoples and goods is critical, and that British jobs are welcome in the EU since May cant make up her mind about EU citizens rights.
 
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Infinite Chaos said:
May seems to have made this about Brexit primarily.
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She has, but I suspect that her opponents will put some effort into making sure other equally important issues get raised. The damage the Tories are doing to the NHS, social care and education systems are not to be discounted. People care about the NHS much more than they do about Brexit, I reckon.
 
Infinite Chaos said:
An amazing decision; this could end up being a 2nd referendum on Brexit if any opposition parties can rally the Remain vote behind it (and get the young voting this time round)

Not sure this is the wise decision - she had Parliament behind her on all the votes so far.

************EDIT************​

BBC playing May interview by Andrew Marr "I won't be holding a snap election..."
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I absolutely immediately thought that after hearing the news on R4 earlier.

This could be a huge mistake for her and she was even pitching it as 'Referendum 2' which is why I think that Labour will support the motion.

Big mistake.
 
Andalublue said:
If I were Labour I wouldn't give her the election, but they appear to believe they can damage the Tories and will give her the opportunity. Bad politics all round.

Bad politics from May. June 2016: "No snap election." September 2016: "No snap election." February 2017: "No snap election." April 2017: "Um. Err. Snap election, I think." No changed circumstances, Article 50 triggered, negotiations under way and now she looks at the polls, realises that post-Brexit she's probably toast and suddenly all those promises are worth breaking. Cynical, self-serving and really damaging to British interests in the Brexit negotiations.

Bad politics from Corbyn. It's one thing to be prepared to take on the Tories, it's quite another to allow them to dictate the timing and territory of the election campaign when they don't have to. Labour says "no snap election", there's no snap election. What benefit does Corbyn believe Labour could take from this? The best they can possibly hope for is that the Tories get just a slim majority. Seems very foolish to me.
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Another thing that struck me is, why use up the best part of two months of an apparently critical 18 month negotiating process with the EU with a General Election fight?

It doesn't add up.
 
Andalublue said:
If I were Labour I wouldn't give her the election, but they appear to believe they can damage the Tories and will give her the opportunity. Bad politics all round.

Bad politics from May. June 2016: "No snap election." September 2016: "No snap election." February 2017: "No snap election." April 2017: "Um. Err. Snap election, I think." No changed circumstances, Article 50 triggered, negotiations under way and now she looks at the polls, realises that post-Brexit she's probably toast and suddenly all those promises are worth breaking. Cynical, self-serving and really damaging to British interests in the Brexit negotiations.

Bad politics from Corbyn. It's one thing to be prepared to take on the Tories, it's quite another to allow them to dictate the timing and territory of the election campaign when they don't have to. Labour says "no snap election", there's no snap election. What benefit does Corbyn believe Labour could take from this? The best they can possibly hope for is that the Tories get just a slim majority. Seems very foolish to me.
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It's not bad politics if the goal is to decimate the Labour party (something that probably needs to happen) and the election succeeds, with polls currently showing that Labour would only get ~150 seats, which might be the death blow to the party that slowly sees them descend into irrelevancy, like what happened to the Liberal party in the 40 years after the turn of the century in 1900.
 
William Rea said:
Another thing that struck me is, why use up the best part of two months of an apparently critical 18 month negotiating process with the EU with a General Election fight?

It doesn't add up.
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So she can claim to have a mandate.
 
Andalublue said:
If I were Labour I wouldn't give her the election, but they appear to believe they can damage the Tories and will give her the opportunity. Bad politics all round.

Bad politics from May. June 2016: "No snap election." September 2016: "No snap election." February 2017: "No snap election." April 2017: "Um. Err. Snap election, I think." No changed circumstances, Article 50 triggered, negotiations under way and now she looks at the polls, realises that post-Brexit she's probably toast and suddenly all those promises are worth breaking. Cynical, self-serving and really damaging to British interests in the Brexit negotiations.

Bad politics from Corbyn. It's one thing to be prepared to take on the Tories, it's quite another to allow them to dictate the timing and territory of the election campaign when they don't have to. Labour says "no snap election", there's no snap election. What benefit does Corbyn believe Labour could take from this? The best they can possibly hope for is that the Tories get just a slim majority. Seems very foolish to me.
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It they don't it makes the look weak as an opposition party but it a lose-lose situation either way. Corbyn is the worst leader of Labour in a very long time.
 
William Rea said:
Another thing that struck me is, why use up the best part of two months of an apparently critical 18 month negotiating process with the EU with a General Election fight?

It doesn't add up.
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No, it really does add up, William. It's about her own self-interest trumping national interests. Only last month she was claiming that another Scottish referendum would dangerously detract from the negotiation process, "we will not be tricked into taking our eye off the ball" I seem to recall her saying (I may have paraphrased her there btw). And now, now that the Article 50 process is under way, and there's no threat to her Commons majority, and there's zero reason (other than party political considerations) to have an election, she just looks at her opinion poll lead and goes: "**** it! I can get a double-digit majority if I go now. If I wait until I said, until after we are out of the EU on ****ty terms, I'll be lucky to even get a coalition."

Sad thing is, Corbyn is prepared to play right into her hands. I just don't get it. He knows he can't win at the moment, yet he is willing to enable her little coup. What gives?
 
Carjosse said:
It they don't it makes the look weak as an opposition party but it a lose-lose situation either way. Corbyn is the worst leader of Labour in a very long time.
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I'm guessing you're posting from a mobile, because that's a fairly garbled post, if I may say so, Carjosse. Not like you at all.

Refusing to agree to an early election WOULD make Labour look weak, but that's because Labour ARE weak. Agreeing to a snap election that you know you can't win, but which you can prevent makes them look even weaker. It makes them look weaker in support and even weaker in the head.
 
Manc Skipper said:
On the other hand, it's an opportunity for the people to give a final rejection of Brexit. She also has to change Cameron's election law.
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No, Cameron's Fixed Term Parliament Act provides that a PM can call an election if 2/3 of the Commons agrees. So May is not changing the law but acting under its terms.

The H of C will vote tomorrow. If May does not get her two thirds vote she will have to think again.
 
William Rea said:
Another thing that struck me is, why use up the best part of two months of an apparently critical 18 month negotiating process with the EU with a General Election fight?

It doesn't add up.
Click to expand...

No hold up in negotiations which are on hold until a new French president is installed. And even then not going anywhere much until the German election.
 
Carjosse said:
So she can claim to have a mandate.
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Correct. And a mandate under a new, non Cameron, manifesto, which will much strengthen the government against the House of Lords.

There will be 20, 40 or 60 new Conservative MPs. Nearly all of whom will be Leavers. Those hoping for Tory party 'splits' are in for a disappointment.
 
Andalublue said:
I'm guessing you're posting from a mobile, because that's a fairly garbled post, if I may say so, Carjosse. Not like you at all.

Refusing to agree to an early election WOULD make Labour look weak, but that's because Labour ARE weak. Agreeing to a snap election that you know you can't win, but which you can prevent makes them look even weaker. It makes them look weaker in support and even weaker in the head.
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The only thing I can see missing is an m on the 'the' in "makes the look weak".
 
Andalublue said:
She has, but I suspect that her opponents will put some effort into making sure other equally important issues get raised. The damage the Tories are doing to the NHS, social care and education systems are not to be discounted. People care about the NHS much more than they do about Brexit, I reckon.
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I agree. But I worry the message will not be heard.
 
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