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British PM Calls Snap Election For June 2017
Topic Started: Apr 18 2017, 10:22 AM (155 Views)
Webster
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.....apparently, we're headed to election time in the U.K. in about 6-7 weeks or so.....

(The Guardian) Theresa May to make statement in Downing Street at 11.15
--The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg has tweeted (the following)....

(1) PM making a statement in Downing Street at 1115 - only normally used for most serious moments
(2) Watch election rumour mill go crazy.... has May decided to go for it?
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Webster
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(The Guardian) According to Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh, Jeremy Corbyn wants Labour’s national executive committee to agree that Labour MPs who want to stand again at the election have to go through a “trigger ballot” so that local activists can vote against them if they want an alternative candidate. Others believe MPs should be automatically reselected. As Waugh says in his story, Corbyn’s proposal will trigger a row.

The left of the party has long argued for mandatory reselection contests for all MPs, a move backed last year by the Unite union in a bid to defend Corbyn from his critics within the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP).

One NEC source told HuffPost UK that Corbyn calling for ‘trigger ballots’ to be enforced - with just seven weeks to possible polling day on June 8 - would be “a massive waste of time and energy that should be used talking to actual voters instead”.

“This sounds like pure Unite vindictiveness,” one source said.

However, Corbyn supporters believe that the new party membership, which has doubled since 2015 and powered his two landslide leadership victories, should retain its rights to decide their candidate.

-Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/jeremy-corbyn-opposes-automatic-reselection-of-labour-mps-for-general-election-sources-claim_uk_58f638a7e4b0b9e9848ec795?iqk
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Webster
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(The Guardian) The first minister in the last power sharing government in Northern Ireland has described the 8 June general election as a chance for a “vote for the union.”

Arlene Foster, the Democratic Unionist leader, said re-electing her party’s eight MPs would give them a “mandate given to use to ensure the interests of Northern Ireland are to the fore.”

Sinn Fein’s leader in Northern Ireland Michelle O’Neill meanwhile focussed on opposing Brexit as a major plank of her party’s general election campaign.

She said the electoral battle “will be an opportunity for voters to oppose Brexit and reject Tory cuts and austerity.”

Perhaps it is worth here listing the MPs who won parliamentary seats in the last general election.

The DUP hold the largest number with 8 seats in North and East Belfast, North Antrim and South Antrim, Strangford, East Londonderry and Lagan Valley. With the exception perhaps of North Belfast the DUP should hold these seats.

Sinn Fein, of course, boycotts Westminster in line with traditional republican policy. However Sinn Fein has four seats: West Belfast, Newry & Armagh, Mid Ulster and West Tyrone. They party might make a gain in Fermanagh & South Tyrone but will also be hopeful of taking the South Belfast seat.

The SDLP holds the South Belfast seat but its share over the vote in that constituency has been falling over the last two Westminster and local devolved Assembly elections. The party also will face a Sinn Fein challenge in both Foyle and South Down.

Finally the Ulster Unionists have two seats in Fermanagh/South Tyrone and South Antrim. A joint DUP-UUP election pact could help unionism defend its seat in the former constituency while given the DUP a chance to wrestle back South Belfast from the SDLP.

All of these constituency battles are taking place while four big parties in Northern Ireland are supposed to be trying to reach a deal aimed at securing power sharing in the region. The UK-wide election contest is undoubtedly going to create further division in terms of political and community relations in Northern Ireland, and quite clearly will make it even more difficult for the parties to secure a power sharing deal in Belfast.
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Webster
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--If PM doesnt have the confidence to debate her plans on TV with other leaders, broadcasters should empty chair her and go ahead anyway. (Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland - 18 April 2017)
-Read more: https://www.channel4.com/news/by/gary-gibbon/blogs/election-2017-no-tv-debates-this-time
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Webster
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(The Guardian) The FTSE 100 saw its biggest one-day drop since the Brexit vote as the pound surged to a six-month high after Theresa May announced plans for a general election on June 8, the Press Association reports.

The index saw more than 45 billion wiped off as it tumbled 2.4% to end the day at 7,147.5 points, marking its biggest one-day percentage fall since June 24, when it lost 3.1%.

It was hurt by the strength of the pound, which surged more than 1.5% against the US dollar to trade at $1.27 - hitting its highest level since early October.

Multinational stocks on the blue chip index tend to benefit when foreign currencies are stronger.

Versus the euro, sterling rose more than 1% to a four-month high at €1.19.

Investors were digesting surprise news of the snap election, as Downing Street had previously denied plans for a poll before 2020.

Experts have pointed to surveys which suggest the Conservatives will gain a stronger footing following the general election, giving the party a mandate to push forward the Brexit agenda, which could provide more certainty for investors.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Theresa May has addressed the Conservative backbench 1922 committee. As Sky’s Jon Craig reports, she got a standing ovation.....

(1) PM tells 1922 Ctte: "It's not about exploiting Labour's weaknesses. It's about getting a mandate from the country to strengthen our hand."
(2) PM: "Country has come together, but Pt has not. All Opp parties have declared they will be seeking to obstruct the Govt's Brexit strategy."
(3) PM continued in address at '22 Ctte: "So a general election is needed to give us a clear mandate and ability to negotiate from strength."
(4) PM continued in address at '22 Ctte: "So a general election is needed to give us a clear mandate and ability to negotiate from strength."
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Amber Rudd, the home secretary, told the PM programme earlier that she was first told that there would be an early election today, before this morning’s cabinet.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Prosecutors are set to announce in the days ahead of the June 8 general election whether a string of Conservative MPs and officials will face charges in relation to allegations of breaching spending limits in the 2015 poll, the Press Association reports.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman told PA that the announcement of the snap election would have no impact on the timing of decisions on whether to press charges.

Some 14 police forces have sent files to the CPS and decisions on charges are due in late May and early June.

The precise deadlines for decisions vary from area to area, depending on the date last year on which the local force secured an extension to its investigations into alleged breaches of election finance laws.

Allegations highlighted by Channel 4 News and the Daily Mirror relate to busloads of Conservative activists sent to key seats, whose expenses were reported as part of national campaign spend rather than falling within the lower constituency limits.

The CPS declined to say which constituencies are involved, but said files had been received from the Metropolitan Police, as well as forces in Avon and Somerset, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon and Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, West Mercia, the West Midlands and West Yorkshire.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Jeremy Corbyn gave a short election this afternoon in Birmingham, where he was attending an event to promote Labour’s pledge to increase the carer’s allowance by £10. He said: In 50 days the country will go to the polls.

We will set our our vision and our policies as we’ve been doing over the past couple of weeks.

This is what Labour has always done - we founded the NHS, we created the social security safety net, we created the Open University, we developed the minimum wage, we’ve done so much on human rights and equality.

A Labour government, elected on June 8, will build on that legacy, will build on that tradition but above all it will ensure that as a society we recognise that those who care always work for the benefit of the whole of society.
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Webster
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(BBC News) Twelve times a PM got the job without a general election
--This handy graphic shows how Britain has changed prime minister 24 times in the past century, half of those without a general election.
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Webster
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(BBC News) Bigger Tory majority 'unlikely to affect EU negotiations'
--BBC News correspondent Chris Morris says anyone who thinks winning an election strengthens a government's hand in EU negotiations should consider Alexis Tsipras in Greece. He writes:

It didn’t work out well for the Greek prime minister and his anti-austerity campaign, and it is unlikely that it would make much difference in the Brexit negotiations to come.

If the opinion polls are correct (and seven weeks is a long time in politics), a bigger Tory majority would give Theresa May a stronger and clearer negotiating mandate.

But from the perspective of many in the EU, that would mean less chance of hard-line Brexiteers causing problems, rather than more chance of the UK winning greater concessions.
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Webster
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(BBC News) PM heads to the Commons to address Tory MPs
--Theresa May has left Downing Street to head to the House of Commons, where she will address Conservative backbench MPs.
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Webster
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--Former Tory leader @WilliamJHague says the snap #GeneralElection can provide a “good Conservative majority” in Parliament (BBC Radio 5 Live, 18 April 2017)
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Webster
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(BBC News) Election 2017: Parliamentary timeline
--With a maximum of seven working days left in this parliament, the BBC's parliamentary correspondent Mark D'Arcy gives the timeline in the run-up to the snap general election.

Key dates are:
Wednesday 19 April: The debate on an early dissolution of Parliament. The other major event of the day will be PMQs.
Tuesday 2 May: The final sitting day available to the Commons and Lords.
Wednesday 3 May: Dissolution day
Thursday 4 May: Local and mayoral elections and (possibly) the Manchester Gorton by-election.
Thursday 11 May: Deadline for nominations
Monday 22 May: Deadline for registering to vote
Thursday 8 June: Polling Day
-Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-parliaments-39630155
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Webster
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(BBC News) Salmond confirms intention to stand
--Former Scottish First Minister and ex-SNP leader Alex Salmond confirmed his intention to stand in the election for the constituency of Gordon.

This is blatant opportunism by the prime minister who is looking to take advantage of the weakness of the Labour Party to legitimise her hard-Brexit agenda and shift the entire country to the right. - Alex Salmond, Former Scottish first minister
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(BBC News) Back MPs with open-mind on Brexit, urges Blair
--Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair called on voters to elect MPs who have "an open mind" on Brexit and are willing to vote on the deal obtained by Mrs May on its merits.

Mr Blair said he was not calling for "tactical voting or some anti-Tory alliance" but that it was vital to keep open the possibility of MPs being ready to "put the national interest before party interest".
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