Snap election...

Theresa May calls snap UK election on June 8

‘We need a general election and we need one now,’ says PM.

By TOM MCTAGUE AND CHARLIE COOPER

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said Tuesday she would call a snap general election for June 8, arguing that divisions in Westminster over Brexit had made an early vote unavoidable.

“The country is coming together, but Westminster is not,” May told reporters outside N0.10 Downing Street, adding that she would present the motion to the House of Commons on Wednesday.

“We need a general election and we need one now,” said the Conservative leader.

Accusing opposition parties of “political game-playing,” she said the country was “coming together” over the U.K.’s decision to leave the EU, but that divisions in Parliament “will risk our ability to make a success of Brexit.”

Setting the stage for the campaign messages to come, May said the election would be a choice between her “stable” leadership and a “weak and unstable coalition government led by [Labour’s] Jeremy Corbyn” and “propped up” by the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party.

“If we do not hold a general election now, their political game-playing will continue,” she said, calling it a “one-off” opportunity for a vote.

Downing Street has repeatedly insisted in recent weeks that there would be no early election. While there had been fevered speculation in the run-up to the triggering of Article 50 on March 29 that May might call a snap poll, few in Westminster expected Tuesday’s announcement.

She said she had “only recently and reluctantly come to this conclusion.”

“I have concluded that the only way to guarantee certainty and security is to get your support,” she said.

The Fixed-term Parliament Act introduced in 2011 means calling an early election requires the support of two-thirds of MPs. May said she would bring such a motion to the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Labour leader Corbyn supported May’s announcement, all but guaranteeing the vote will pass.