CRUSH THE SABOTEURS
In a stunning move, Mrs May calls bluff of the ‘game-playing’ Remoaners (including ‘unelected’ Lords) with a snap election and vows to . . .
THERESA May last night vowed to use a snap election to crush Remainers threatening to block Brexit in Parliament.
In a dramatic U-turn, the Prime Minister said Britons would go to the polls on June 8 in an election designed to strengthen her mandate to deliver the result of last year’s EU referendum.
Announcing the bombshell outside No 10 yesterday, Mrs May cited opposition to Brexit from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and the ‘unelected’ House of Lords as her reason for going to the polls.
The move was taken ‘reluctantly’ following private warnings from Tory whips that ‘wreckers’ in Parliament could derail vital Brexit legislation, weakening the PM’s negotiating position and risking a chaotic departure from the EU.
Mrs May rounded on opposition MPs and peers for refusing to accept the referendum result, saying: ‘If we do not hold a general election now, their political game-playing will continue. Division in Westminster will risk our ability to make a success of Brexit and it will cause damaging uncertainty and instability to the country. So we need a gen- eral election and we need one now.’ MPs will vote today on whether to endorse the election call – a move made necessary by the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act passed by the coalition government.
But, with opposition parties suggesting they would not stand in the way of an election, the move looked to be a formality.
On a tumultuous day at Westminster:
A snap poll gave Mrs May a 21point lead over Labour, which would translate into a Commons majority of more than 140 – her working majority is now 17;
Nicola Sturgeon vowed to use the election to secure a mandate to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence;
A Labour MP pleaded with Jeremy Corbyn to step down to avert a wipeout;
Former home secretary Alan Johnson led an expected exodus of Labour MPs who will quit rather than back Mr Corbyn;
Mrs May said she would not take part in televised debates during the election campaign;
The Prime Minister called foreign leaders, including Donald Trump and Angela Merkel, to explain her decision;
Philip Hammond said a sharp rise in the pound showed markets had confidence in a future Tory government with a new mandate;
Sir Lynton Crosby, who masterminded David Cameron’s surprise win in 2015, has been hired to help run the campaign again.
Mrs May has repeatedly said she would not call an early election since coming to power last summer, saying the country needed ‘stability’ in the wake of the Brexit vote.
But Tory chief whip Gavin Williamson and Lords leader Baroness Evans warned her that, without a specific election mandate for Brexit legislation, it risked being thwarted by Remainers in parliament.
Mrs May said: ‘At this moment of enormous national significance there should be unity here in Westminster, but instead there is division. The country is coming together, but Westminster is not.’
She said Labour had threatened to vote against the final Brexit deal, the SNP had vowed to vote against legislation that repealed Britain’s EU membership and the Lib Dems had pledged to ‘grind the business of government to a standstill’.
She pointedly mentioned the House of Lords, saying that its ‘unelected members’ had ‘ vowed to fight us every step of the way’.
She added: ‘ Our opponents believe the Government’s majority is so small that our resolve will weaken and that they can force us to change course. They are wrong.’
The Tory manifesto, which is to be published in the next fortnight, will contain a string of pledges on Brexit, including ending free movement and removing the UK from the single market.
The Tories are expected to reprise the 2015 election campaign in which they raised the threat of an unstable coalition led by Ed Miliband and propped up by the SNP.
On this occasion they will contrast the ‘stability’ of a Tory government with the potential chaos of a coalition led by Jeremy Corbyn and propped up by the Lib Dems, who want to stop Brexit, and the SNP, who want to use it to break up Britain. Mrs May said she took the final decision to go for a snap election during a walking holiday in Snowdonia with her husband Philip last week. Only a handful of senior aides and ministers were involved in the decision.
Cabinet sources said the reaction had been ‘calm and measured’.
The mood was more boisterous later when Mrs May addressed a packed meeting at Westminster where backbench MPs chanted ‘five more years’.
Some West Country MPs, who fear a Lib Dem revival, privately voiced disappointment. Labour accused Mrs May of ‘cutting and running’. Despite his dire standing in the polls, Mr Corbyn insisted he ‘welcomed’ the chance to fight an early election.
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said Labour could win despite a poll deficit averaging almost 20 per cent, saying: ‘The polls have been wrong before.’
Miss Sturgeon described Mrs May’s decision as ‘one of the most extraordinary U-turns in recent political history’. She said the decision would strengthen support for independence: ‘This move is a huge political miscalculation.’
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron vowed to use the election to campaign against Brexit, saying: ‘This election is your chance to change the direction of our country.
‘If you want to avoid a disastrous hard Brexit. If you want to keep Britain in the single market. If you want a Britain that is open, tolerant and united, this is your chance.’
An instant opinion poll found that a clear majority of voters back the calling of a general election.
Only 15 per cent said it was the wrong call and 55 per cent said it had their support. The poll was by ICM for the Guardian.
‘Damaging uncertainty and instability’