back to article Oh snap! UK Prime Minister Theresa May calls June election

Prime Minister Theresa May has called a snap general election to be held on 8 June. The 11am statement – delivered 15 minutes earlier than political journalists had been led to believe – confirmed that an election would be held in seven weeks. In a veiled reference to last June's referendum vote to leave the European Union, …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    According to the flurry of memes...

    ...conservatives will smash Labour. Never have I seen such an eruption of memes.

  2. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: This goes to show one thing

      You actually think Labour could get it's **** together by 2020? You're far more optimistic than I am, I think she'd win then, the difference is that after being smashed in 2017, labour are almost certain to ditch Corbyn who'll likely end up spawning a new party thanks to "momentum" numpties.

      Tories want a mandate and they'll get it.

      1. graeme leggett Silver badge

        Re: This goes to show one thing

        It's about the brexit mandate.

        48/52 although a win for Brexit is a narrow win.

        Getting a (eg) 60/40 split of the MPs in the Tory favour in Parliament can be called by May a "clear mandate" etc and she can ride over last years vote and claim that we're all for it. Rather than the actualite which would be more like a lot of voters were put off by Corbyn with the effect of diluting opposition to Tory voters.

        1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          Getting a (eg) 60/40 split of the MPs in the Tory favour in Parliament can be called by May a "clear mandate"

          And (if a lot more moderates get elected) it'll mean that she can ignore the right-wing nutters without fear of losing a majority.

          Which will mean (hopefully) that a more reasoned Brexit will happened without the "Europe is the spawn of eeevvviiillll" loons being able to throw thier minimal weight around).

          Well, one can dream[1] anyway.

          [1] Actual dream is that the Tories will lose their majority completely and the balance of power will be with saner heads..

          1. codejunky Silver badge

            Re: This goes to show one thing

            @ CrazyOldCatMan

            "Which will mean (hopefully) that a more reasoned Brexit will happened without the "EU is the spawn of eeevvviiillll" loons being able to throw thier minimal weight around)."

            Fixed it for you. The EU is in Europe but Europe is not the EU. It is a very important distinction as the EU torched Greece, caused war in Ukraine and is the political establishment which has caused the extremist parties to gain traction throughout European countries within the EU.

        2. strum

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          >It's about the brexit mandate.

          Nah. Nothing to do with it. TM never had any realistic opposition to her Brexit plan (such as it was).

          This is intended to enable TM to ignore her own back-benchers, like she ignores the rest of us.

      2. The First Dave

        Re: This goes to show one thing

        But will May get the two-thirds majority in parliament that is needed to pull off this move?

        1. Arthur the cat Silver badge

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          But will May get the two-thirds majority in parliament that is needed to pull off this move?

          Corbyn has already said Labour will vote for an election. I think that gives May the 2/3rds majority she needs. Of course, whether all Labour MPs will vote that way is another question entirely.

          1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

            Re: This goes to show one thing

            If Corbyn wasn't such a fucking tool, he'd do what the Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition is supposed to do and oppose the government. Let May get her parliamentary majority only with the support of the SNP or try and ride out the inevitable backbench rebellions. Fixed term parliaments are only supposed to be undone by votes of no confidence in the government, not to allow the PM to call snap elections when it suits them.

            1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

              Re: This goes to show one thing

              "Fixed term parliaments are only supposed to be undone by votes of no confidence in the government, not to allow the PM to call snap elections when it suits them."

              Or a vote of no confidence. Or repealing the Act. Or a new law (Statutory Instrument, anyone?) to amend it and effectively neuter it.

              Also worth bearing in mind the Tories created the Act too, but now find it inconvenient.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Happy

                Fixed-term Parliaments

                Or a vote of no confidence. Or repealing the Act. Or a new law (Statutory Instrument, anyone?) to amend it and effectively neuter it.

                Also worth bearing in mind the Tories created the Act too, but now find it inconvenient.

                The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 was a condition demanded by the Liberal Democrats in forming the coalition government with the Tories in 2010. Their concern was that as soon as the polls shifted a little in the Tories' favour, the Prime Minister would call a snap election to jettison their unwelcome bedfellows. Before the Act was passed, the Prime Minister alone had the authority to ask the Queen to dissolve the Government and thus trigger a general election, so the Lib Dems would not have been able to stop it.

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: This goes to show one thing

              "If Corbyn wasn't such a fucking tool"

              This is a man who stood at the last election on a pro-EU manifesto, whose constituents backed Remain by more than 50%, and yet at the first opportunity used his party whip to tell his MPs they should ignore the wishes of their own constituents and toe his line ... "tool" is but one way of putting it ....

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          "But will May get the two-thirds majority in parliament that is needed to pull off this move?"

          Labour say they will support an early election. Makes one think of turkeys voting for Christmas.

          1. Alan Brown Silver badge

            Re: This goes to show one thing

            "Makes one think of turkeys voting for Christmas."

            Now that the reality of how much brexit will fuck things over in favour of the tories is starting to dawn on people, a campaign based on "Fuck brexit and fuck the tories" might have traction.

            If GenX and Millennials were to get out and vote, it would scare the bejesus out of the establishment and this time around they're starting to get pissed off enough to actually get politically engaged.

        3. rh587

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          But will May get the two-thirds majority in parliament that is needed to pull off this move?

          Corbyn has already said Labour will vote for the motion.

          But that just raises the question of how many Labour MPs give a shit what Corbyn thinks any more and will vote according to whether they think they can hold onto their seat or not (although going against the Party at this point could cost them their PPC nomination anyway).

      3. Voland's right hand Silver badge

        Re: This goes to show one thing

        You actually think Labour could get it's **** together by 2020?

        It is not so much a matter of getting their shit together, it is a matter of people starting to hate Tory's guts to "Poll Tax Level" of hate once more. Elections can be won on the positive and on the negative. She foresees a high likelihood that she will lose that election on the negative, otherwise she would not need to call a snap one.

        Tories may get a mandate, but it will do nothing to unite the country - Scotland will go more nationalist and liberal. Cities which voted remain will all swing back to Liberal and countryside will swing even further back to Leave - all courtesy of "first past the pole".

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          "[...] countryside will swing even further back to Leave [...]"

          Not necessarily. It has slowly dawned on some of those areas that hard BREXIT potentially means reduced subsidies and no seasonal labour for crop picking. An unfettered DEFRA is likely to be even less efficient at distributing any replacement subsidies.

          1. BebopWeBop

            Re: This goes to show one thing

            Which will be further complicated by the apparent enthusiasm for the Tory party to support the inclusion of farming and food production in any trade negotiations with the US leading to drops in animal welfare (not that much go the farming lobby - the big boys) could give a shit, and competition from very much cheaper (subsidised as well) meat and veg.

            I don't see this ending well for the gaming Brexit lobbyists.

          2. fruitoftheloon
            Stop

            @AC:Re: This goes to show one thing

            AC,

            a question for you, how have you come to the conclusion that there won't be any seasonable labour available for crop picking?

            Did the PM drop you a note confirming this???

            Cheers,

            Jay

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: @AC:This goes to show one thing

              Want a crop of seasable hands to pick the crops?

              Perhaps some of the soon to be redundant Labor MP's will apply?

              Will Jeremy be one of them? Oh the irony if he was. By supporting the vote for the election, he could be signing his own P.45.

              And pigs might fly...

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: @AC:This goes to show one thing

              "[...] how have you come to the conclusion that there won't be any seasonable labour available for crop picking?"

              The BBC "Farming Today programme at 06:45 has often considered the impact. Two factors have been suggested.

              One is that EU labour will not have free movement access.

              The other is that the drop in the value of Sterling has made the already low rates of pay less attractive to the usual foreign workers.

              The need for foreign workers is because people in England generally won't do that type of work. The tourist catering/hotel industry is also fearing the same problems.

              Tory minister Priti Patel campaigned for "Leave" on the stated intention of replacing EU immigrant workers with freer access for those from the Indian subcontinent. India/Philippines are also wanting freer access to the UK labour market as a part of any future trade deal. That is unlikely to be fruit/vegetable pickers though.

          3. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

            Re: This goes to show one thing

            "no seasonal labour for crop picking."

            No problem there. It'll be like the old days when Londoners took their summer "holidays" hop-picking in Kent only this time it'll be ex-industrial workers from the Midlands & NE.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          "It is not so much a matter of getting their shit together, it is a matter of people starting to hate Tory's guts to "Poll Tax Level" of hate once more. "

          Exactly, I have just been reading up on the elections of the 1920s and 1930s where sudden swings were common. Personally I tend to agree with the people who think that Labour are now in the position of the Liberals post-WW1, i.e. permanent decline. Basically English politics consists of the Conservatives being the party of power, but moving their goalposts to suit the conditions, while other parties rise and fall. But the Conservatives are vulnerable to protest parties at times - as they were in 1997 when the economy was actually improving but they were wiped out.

          1. Alan Brown Silver badge

            Re: This goes to show one thing

            "But the Conservatives are vulnerable to protest parties at times"

            _ALL_ parties are vulnerable to swing and non-voters.

            The mistake they make is to only court the swing voters (marginal seats) and treat non-voters as "If you don't vote, you don't exist" - all parties get lists of _who_ voted even if they don't know what they voted for and it's been made abundantly clear to me that regular voters get more door knockers. Most parties don't even bother trying to campaign to people who haven't voted.

            A solid campaign based on getting those who haven't voted out to the polling booths would be a fundamental shock to the conservatives on all sides as they rely on electoral complacency.

            Whilst this might sound like a pipe dream, it's exactly the tactic that Barack Obama used to mobilise the Democratic vote in the USA.

        3. MrRimmerSIR!
          Joke

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          "Scotland will go more nationalist and liberal"

        4. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          "...it is a matter of people starting to hate Tory's guts to "Poll Tax Level" of hate once more."

          She's probably most worried about losing the support of Brexit supporters when she's forced to compromise.

          1. JohnMurray

            Re: This goes to show one thing

            Funnily enough, the CPS is due to report about the last elections alleged fraud...about the start of June. So that's dead in the water now!

            And don't those irritating student people (80% in favour of remain) have exams around the first week in June?

            Maybe we'll get a government that'll tell the media billionairarses to GTF....

            I can dream?

        5. Zippy's Sausage Factory

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          @Voland's right hand - except that Cornwall and Devon are traditional Lib Dem heartlands, and could quite poossibly revert to LD in this election having gone Tory at the last one.

        6. Trigonoceps occipitalis

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          Scotland - Liberal?

          As in the children's "named person service?"

          A my pie, your fingers, "Fuck off!" situation.

      4. TheVogon

        Re: This goes to show one thing

        "You actually think Labour could get it's **** together by 2020?"

        Nope. Best money I ever spent voting for Corbyn. His legacy should keep the socialist loonies at bay for a good few years yet...

    2. Mage Silver badge

      Re: This goes to show one thing

      She's calling one now because she has a 25% lead over Labour and UKIP are dead.

      However, Labour and UKIP are not the only other parties.

      Who will be returned in NI, Wales and Scotland?

      1. Bogle
        Pint

        Re: This goes to show one thing

        > Who will be returned in NI, Wales and Scotland?

        I'm hoping we can reduce the number of Tory MPs in Scotland by 1.

        1. Bogle
          Joke

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          >> Who will be returned in NI, Wales and Scotland?

          > I'm hoping we can reduce the number of Tory MPs in Scotland by 1.

          A downvote? People, David Mundell himself is in the house!

        2. Rich 11

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          I'm hoping we can reduce the number of Tory MPs in Scotland by 1.

          I'm hoping you can too. Wish I could help.

          This opportunity reminds me of John Major's government, where after losing his last Welsh MPs he appointed John Redwood to be the Home Office minister for Wales. The best rationale anyone could come up with for this choice was that the Vulcan was the only Tory MP who could at least see Wales from his Herefordshire home.

        3. Adrian Midgley 1

          That'll be interesting Ministerially*...

          appointing someone not in a Scottish seat to be Minister for Scottish Affairs should play well in the Provinces.

          * If the Tories are returned

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: This goes to show one thing

        "Who will be returned in [..] Scotland?"

        This is irrelevant. The SNP has 56 of 59 Scottish seats already, but no power over an English (and Welsh) voted Tory majority at Westminster. We could vote for 59 fluorescent macaques and it would have no effect.

        Nothing undemocratic about that in the purely technical sense. That's what you (or rather, we) get for remaining a part of a political union with a far larger partner whose political and cultural values have been diverging from ours for a long time.

        Still, I'm glad we chose to say "No" to independence, because- as all the scaremongering unionists promised- our place within the EU is safe that way. Isn't it, Mr. Darling?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          We could vote for 59 fluorescent macaques and it would have no effect.

          But fortunately there is only one Nicola Sturgeon.

        2. TheVogon

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          "Who will be returned in [..] Scotland?"

          "This is irrelevant."

          No it isn't - the SNP are the best protection the rest of the country has against a socialist Labour government. It's largely thanks to them that he Conservatives are in power now.

        3. veti Silver badge

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          "The SNP has 56 of 59 Scottish seats already" - yes, despite getting only 50% of the Scottish vote, because they have the same swingy winner-take-all constituency system as England & Wales. And guess what's the one aspect of their constitution that the SNP doesn't propose to change?

          Sidenote, there's a popular Scots myth that the country voted solidly against Brexit. If that were true, then Brexit wouldn't be happening. The fact is that 38% of Scots - and 40% of Londoners, and 44% of Northern Irish - voted Leave. Moral: opinion was, and is, divided everywhere. (Except Gibraltar.)

          I for one welcome the election. Either the Tories will be returned with a thumping majority, in which case fine, they can get on with Brexit in their own way (and they'll be cripplingly unpopular by the time of the next election, because of all the promises they'll have to break, but that's their problem) - or the Lib Dems will stage a big comeback, in which case equally fine, maybe they can reverse the whole thing. Either way I see a net gain on the present position.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: This goes to show one thing

            "Sidenote, there's a popular Scots myth that the country voted solidly against Brexit."

            I'd say 62% Remain against 38% Leave (i.e. a 24% margin) is a pretty damn solid majority; far, *far* larger than the 51.9 vs. 48.1% (i.e. 3.8%) sliver that the pro-Leave camp won by UK-wide.

            1. codejunky Silver badge

              Re: This goes to show one thing

              @AC

              "I'd say 62% Remain against 38% Leave (i.e. a 24% margin) is a pretty damn solid majority"

              Or as the remain voters put it- 38% is a significant number of people and should be listened to. We cant just listen to the 62% we should listen to the 38%. How can you trample the rights of the 38%? It was just advisory so we dont need to listen to the 62%. Our parliament is sovereign so we should accept the brexit. 62% gave the wrong answer and have no idea what they were voting for/are idiots/are uneducated/lack intelligence/shouldnt be listened to and we should ignore what they want for the good of the country.

              Any leave voters want to pile on any insults they have received feel free. I am sure I have missed out loads.

        4. Havin_it

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          >We could vote for 59 fluorescent macaques and it would have no effect.

          I dunno, might liven up PMQs a bit. Let's try it.

      3. TheVogon

        Re: This goes to show one thing

        "and UKIP are dead."

        They are at about 15% in the polls. That's not far off Labour. Not to mention that they got over 4 million votes last general election - that's more than the SNP. I would expect that UKIP will push Labour into third place in many constituencies.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: This goes to show one thing

          "and UKIP are dead."

          UKIP are definitely not dead. No. There is incontrovertible proof of their existence: they have just as many MPs as the Monster Raving Loony Party, look !

    3. Adrian Midgley 1

      And the Falklands War which arose from Tory action

      in reducing visible interest in the South Atlantic by removing the patrol ship.

      What a coincidence! We cry.

  3. JimmyRob

    Economic Impact of Brexit

    Here is an article that looks at the economic impact of Brexit on the U.K. and on Europe as a whole:

    http://viableopposition.blogspot.ca/2017/04/the-economic-impact-of-brexit-no-win.html

  4. This post has been deleted by its author

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    STASI May showing she's just another lying politician.

  6. Zog_but_not_the_first
    Big Brother

    So...

    A boot stamping on a human face forever then.

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