Yahoo – AFP,
Dario Thuburn and Alice Ritchie, April 18, 2017
British Prime Minister Theresa May makes an announcement to the media outside 10 Downing Street in central London on April 18, 2017 (AFP Photo/ Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS) |
London
(AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May called Tuesday for a snap election
on June 8, in a shock move as she seeks to bolster her position before tough
talks on leaving the EU.
May is
apparently aiming to cash in on her 20-point lead over the main opposition
Labour party to increase her majority and give her a stronger hand in the
Brexit battles with Brussels ahead.
Britain
started the formal process of leaving the EU last month, but negotiations are
not due to begin for weeks -- giving the prime minister a narrow window for a
lightning election campaign.
"We
need a general election and we need one now," May said in a dramatic
announcement outside her Downing Street office that caught the whole country
off-guard.
"We
have at this moment a one-off chance to get this done while the European Union
agrees its negotiating position and before the detailed talks begin," she
said.
Not
another one!
The U-turn
caps a tumultuous few years in British politics that has seen two historic
referendums -- one on Brexit, one on Scottish independence -- and a prime
ministerial resignation.
An early
election would be the fourth big vote in four years and there are signs that
the British public is beginning to suffer from election fatigue.
In a BBC
video widely shared on social media, a woman called Brenda told her interviewer
in Bristol when asked about the election: "Not another one! Oh for God's
sake. I can't stand this!"
MPs will
vote on the move on Wednesday and May needs two-thirds of lawmakers to support
her but Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has already said he is behind the plan.
"We
look forward to showing how Labour will stand up for the people of
Britain," said Corbyn, a veteran socialist who became leader in 2015 and
has strong support in the party's leftist grassroots but has struggled to
secure wider appeal.
And recent
opinion polls over Easter weekend showed the size of the challenge ahead of
him.
The
Conservatives polled at 38 percent to 46 percent, while Labour stood at 23
percent to 29 percent, according to the polls by YouGov, ComRes and Opinium.
'Game
playing'
May
explained her policy U-turn with an attack on her domestic political opponents,
many of whom support Britain's continued membership of Europe's single market,
accusing them of "game-playing" over Brexit.
"I
have concluded that the only way to guarantee certainty and stability for the
years ahead is to hold this election and seek your support for the decisions I
must take," May said.
Scottish
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the pro-independence Scottish
National Party which has 54 of 59 Scottish seats in the Commons, said May was
making a "huge political miscalculation".
But in a
boost to May, the IMF also on Tuesday significantly raised its forecast for
Britain's growth in 2017 to 2.0 percent from a previous estimate of 1.5
percent.
The pound,
which has fallen because of the Brexit vote and plunged ahead of May's
announcement Tuesday, rose sharply against the euro and the dollar after it.
Stocks
instead suffered their worst fall since the Brexit vote last June, since the
rising value of the pound hits multinationals.
EU leaders
except Britain's PM Theresa May will hold a summit on April 29 to
map out the
strategy for negotiating Britain's departure from the bloc in 2019
(AFP
Photo/Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS)
|
New
battles loom
European
Council President Donald Trump tweeted that he had had a "good phone
call" with May following her announcement.
He then
likened the latest twist in British politics to a movie by Alfred Hitchcock,
often referred to as the "Master of Suspense".
"It
was Hitchcock who directed Brexit: first an earthquake and then the tension
rises".
The Brexit
negotiations themselves are not expected to start until June at the earliest --
and Brussels said this timetable would not change.
The
European Commission has said it wants the exit talks to be concluded by October
2018 at the latest, to allow time for the deal to be ratified.
But while
May secured the parliament's support to trigger Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon
Treaty last month, eurosceptics and europhiles alike are gearing up for further
battles over the details of the negotiations.
German
Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said in a statement that "hopefully"
the new elections "will lead to more clarity and predictability in the
negotiations with the European Union".
One
European source said Tuesday that May would be better placed to enter the
negotiations -- and give "concessions" -- if she had a stronger hand.
"We
have some hope that this will lead to a strong leader in London that can
negotiate with us with strong backing by the electorate," said another.
The other
27 EU leaders are set to hold a summit on April 29 where they will agree on a
strategy for negotiating Britain's expected departure in 2019.
#UPDATE Germany hopes UK election will bring 'clarity' to Brexit talks https://t.co/HWrFlNzfYh #Brexit #GE17 pic.twitter.com/x13vvkiG70— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 18, 2017
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