www.ditl.org

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... it-mandate

Theresa May has stunned Westminster by demanding a snap general election on 8 June that she hopes will turn her party’s clear lead in the opinion polls into a healthy parliamentary majority and secure her Conservative vision for Brexit.

The prime minister made an unscheduled statement on Tuesday morning from behind a lectern outside 10 Downing Street, in which she recanted her repeated promise not to go to the polls before 2020.

She accused opposition parties of trying to jeopardise her government’s preparations for exiting the EU as she called for what would be a third nationwide poll in three years – while the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, responded by saying he would welcome the opportunity to fight an election opposing Tory austerity.

How many times do you guys across the pond have to vote on something before it sticks?

The people have pretty much accepted it. There's a 'few' that can't cope with the idea. The main problem is the politicians who don't like what the people have said. Much along the lines of you Berthers and Obama, and now the Anti Trumpists. They just keep trying to fight the issue, even though it's lost. Given she came to power mid term due to Cameron resigning over loosing the referendum she wants to get her own mandate and confirmation that the people are in favour of what she's doing.

It's also kind of a sneaky way to get around the term calendar.

It used to be that the party in power could call a general election any time they wanted. They would take advantage of this, of course - notoriously, Maggie was quite unpopular in her first term, but called an election shortly after winning the Falklands war and won it handily. They decided it was unfair so they introduced fixed parliamentary terms of five years.

Well, May is saying this decision is all about sorting out all the nasty opposition to Brexit. Only... there actually hasn't been much meaningful opposition to Brexit. There's been plenty of debate, but she won all the votes on the subject quite overwhelmingly. So does that really fly as her reason for calling a general election?

But she IS leading the polls over Labour, by as much as 20% in some instances. May's own approval rating is over 50%, whilst Corbyn's is something like 15%. There are lifelong Labour voters saying the won't vote for him, and even some of his own MPs are reported to be saying they hope Labour loses badly just so he will have to resign and they will finally be rid of him. So unless something unlikely happens in the campaign swings things significantly, she is likely to come back with a greatly increased majority - from the current 17 to perhaps as much as 100+.

She also potentially cuts the knees out from under the SNP. For one, they hold practically every seat in Scotland, so realistically they may well lose seats. If they lost their majority, it would end talk of another independence referendum. And if the conservatives put "we won't hold an independence referendum" in their manifesto, they could then say that they won't hold one even if the SNP does still hold Scotland.

Either way, this can really only strengthen her hand. Which is probably the real reason she's doing it.

IanKennedy wrote:The people have pretty much accepted it. There's a 'few' that can't cope with the idea. The main problem is the politicians who don't like what the people have said. Much along the lines of you Berthers and Obama, and now the Anti Trumpists. They just keep trying to fight the issue, even though it's lost. Given she came to power mid term due to Cameron resigning over loosing the referendum she wants to get her own mandate and confirmation that the people are in favour of what she's doing.

Okay, thanks for this. I was curious as to why she called the vote.