PM brands Jez ‘not fit to lead UK’

THERESA May’s call for a snap election was given overwhelming backing by MPs last night.

The PM warned that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was “simply not fit to lead” Britain.

The Commons voted for a June 8 poll by a massive margin of 522 to 13.

It was well over the two-thirds majority needed to overcome the Fixed Term Parliaments Act which had dictated that the next election would be in 2020.

Of the 522 MPs who supported the election motion, 325 were Conservatives and 174 Labour.

But nine Labour MPs defied their leader Mr Corbyn to vote against the move, while dozens more joined the Scottish Nationalist Party in abstaining.

Mrs May tore into the Labour leader after saying she had changed her mind on the election issue because it would help in the coming Brexit talks.

She said: “A general election is the best way to strengthen Britain’s hand in the negotiations ahead.”

Mrs May accused Labour of wanting to borrow £500billion and hike taxes to fund a spending spree if elected.

Struggling

She dismissed Mr Corbyn as “simply not fit to lead” and said Labour would “bankrupt the country and weaken our defences”.

Mr Corbyn is struggling to hold his party together with surveys showing it faces a rout, losing up to a third of its MPs.

Several MPs have already announced they will not fight for re-election with Labour’s prospects looking hopeless in many of its traditional heartlands.

But Mr Corbyn fired back at the Tories asking why “anyone should believe a word they say” in the election run-up, accusing them of “breaking every promise” over the last seven years.

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron called on voters to rally behind his party if they feared her vision for “hard Brexit”.

Former PM Tony Blair also called on voters to elect anti-Brexit MPs, even if they were not Labour.

Another MP who said he would stand again was former Tory chancellor Ken Clarke.

Mr Clarke, 76, who has represented Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire since 1970, had suggested he would step down in 2020.

But yesterday his office confirmed the Remainer would try to keep his seat.

But senior Labour MP Iain Wright announced he is standing down.

The former minister, who chairs the Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, said he would “like to do other things” with his life.

Labour began revealing possible manifesto ideas as shadow chanceller John McDonnell hinted people earning more than £70,000 a year could face being asked to pay more tax under a Labour government.

He said Labour wanted a “fair taxation system” which would see corporations and the rich “pay their way more”.

Mr McDonnell added: “I don’t think this election is about Brexit. The Government has seen that the economy at the moment is going to turn.”