THE ELECTION MACHINE IS UP AND RUNNING. MARION McMULLEN FINDS OUT HOW THE FIGURES ADD UP
1 READY FOR AN ELECTION PARTY?
PRIME Minister Theresa May surprised Westminister by announcing she plans to call a General Election on June 8. The country will go to the polls little more than two years since the Conservatives, then led by David Cameron, won the 2015 election against Ed Miliband’s Labour Party, with the Scottish National Party leapfrogging the Liberal Democrats to become the third largest party in the Commons.
2 IS THERE POWER IN NUMBERS?
THE Conservatives currently have the working majority in the House Of Commons. They have 330 MPs, Labour have 229, the SNP 54 and the Liberal Democrats have nine.
3 WHO’S COUNTING?
THERESA May will have been Prime Minister for 331 days on June 8. She was invited to form a government by the Queen on July 13 last year. Local elections will also take place on Thursday, May 4. Full contests are due for 34 English councils, including 27 county councils, and for all 32 Scottish councils and all 22 Welsh councils. The total number of seats up for election is slightly down from the 4,871 seats currently held to 4,851 seats, as a result of boundary changes at some councils.
4 HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN?
IT will be 764 days between the last General Election on May 7, 2015, and the forthcoming one on next one on June 8 – including both election days. There will be 351 days between the EU Referendum on June 23 last year and the General Election.
5 IS THERE A TIMETABLE?
THE formal process for the election will kick off on May 3 when parliament is dissolved. There will be 25 working days before the June 8 polling day.
6 LOTS TO TALK ABOUT THEN?
THERESA May has ruled out taking part in televised election debates, but there were 946 words in her election statement made outside 10 Downing Street.
ITV has said it will host a leaders’ debate despite Theresa May’s insistence that she will not take part.
7 WHAT ABOUT BOOKING VENUES?
NORMALLY provisional bookings for count venues and polling stations would be made a year to six months before polling day. Many venues normally used might not be available because of the short notice and secondary schools, which are often used as polling stations, will be in exam season at the time the election falls.
8 WHO ELSE WANTS YOUR VOTE?
ELECTIONS are also being held across England on May 8 for directly elected mayors in six devolved new super-regions, plus two existing councils.
9 IT’S A HOT DATE THEN?
OTHER historical events that have occurred on the General Election date of June 8 over the centuries include the death of Edward, the Black Prince, in 1376, the introduction of a new law in Britain in 1847 limiting women and children to a 10-hour working day and the birth of American rapper Kanye West in 1977.
10 SO COULD THINGS BE VERSE?
POPULAR poet Pam Ayres reacted promptly to the snap General Election. She wrote on Twitter: “The shock wave passed/ The dust is clearing/Seven weeks electioneering/Rhetoric, hot air and gas/I’m on my way to Dignitas.” Fans were delighted with her offering and some even replied with their own lines of rhyme. One wrote: “Look on the bright side; don’t get the hump. At least we won’t end up with Trump.”