Her clarion cry on the steps of Number 10

I HAVE just chaired a meeting of the Cabinet, where we agreed that the Government should call a General Election, to be held

on June 8. I want to explain the reasons for that decision, what will happen next and the choice facing the British people when you come to vote in this election.

Last summer, after the country voted to leave the European Union, Britain needed certainty, stability and strong leadership, and since I became Prime Minister the Government has delivered precisely that... Britain is leaving the European Union and there can be no turning back.

And as we look to the future, the Government has the right plan for negotiating our new relationship with Europe.

We want a deep and special partnership between a strong and successful European Union and a United Kingdom that is free to chart its own way in the world.

That means we will regain control of our own money, our own laws and our own borders and we will be free to strike trade deals with old friends and new partners all around the world. This is the right approach, and it is in the national interest. But the other political parties oppose it.

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. In recent weeks Labour has threatened to vote against the deal we reach with the European Union.

The Liberal Democrats have said they want to grind the business of government to a standstill. The SNP say they will vote against legislation that formally repeals Britain’s membership of the EU. And unelected members of the House of Lords have vowed to fight us every step of the way.

Our opponents believe that because the Government’s majority is so small, our resolve will weaken and that they can force us to change course. They are wrong ...

If we do not hold a General Election now

their political game-playing will continue, and the negotiations with the European Union will reach their most difficult stage in the run-up to the next scheduled election. 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 General Election ... because 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.

I have only recently and reluctantly come to this conclusion. Since I became Prime Minister I have said that there should be no election until 2020, but now I have concluded that the only way to guarantee certainty and stability for the years ahead is to hold this election ...

So I have a simple challenge to the opposition parties, you have criticised the Government’s vision for Brexit... you have threatened to block the legislation we put before Parliament.

This is your moment to show you mean it, to show you are not opposing the Government for the sake of it, to show that you do not treat politics as a game ...

It will be a choice between strong and stable leadership ... with me as your Prime Minister, or weak and unstable coalition government, led by Jeremy Corbyn, propped up by the Liberal Democrats – who want to reopen the divisions of the referendum – and Nicola Sturgeon.

Every vote for the Conservatives will make it harder for opposition politicians who want to stop me from getting the job done... So, tomorrow, let the House of Commons vote for an election, let everybody put forward their proposals for Brexit and their programmes for Government, and let us remove the risk of uncertainty and instability and continue to give the country the strong and stable leadership it demands.