MPs ready after May springs June surprise

OUR MPs have revealed their shock at the announcement of a June general election.

Britain is set to go to the polls again on June 8, just weeks after next month’s county council elections and less than 12 months after the country voted to leave the European Union.

A House of Commons vote on Wednesday gave Prime Minister Theresa May ( pictured) the nod to bring forward the election. Mrs May said an early election was “the only way to guarantee certainty and security for the years ahead,” in the wake of Brexit, despite previously ruling out going to the country before 2020.

Haslingden MP Graham Jones admitted the announcement came as “very much a surprise”.

He said: “Theresa May has repeatedly said that there would be no general election. I think May saw that she was ahead in the polls and saw an opportunity.”

David Nuttall, Tory MP for Ramsbottom, said: “I certainly had no inkling there was to be an early general election and whilst I have nothing specifically prepared I have fought the past three general elections so it’s not exactly a new experience.”

Rossendale MP Jake Berry was unavailable for comment.