Theresa May to make big announcement

[onthettcbus]

At 11:15. Does anyone want to guess what it is? I fear that it's war even though i am hoping and praying that I am wrong.

Speculation is that it could be a general election called

Poor health steeping down ?

Stepping arghh

I am watching the rolling updates from journalists outside No 10

Speculation is that she will call a General Election for June 8th - that's very specific speculation ian't it?

Rolling updates are here

Theresa May announces general election on 8 June

Theresa May is speaking now.

It's a general election, I am slightly relieved but I am nervous about who will get in this time.

We could have 3 PMs in a year?

She has to put it to the House tomorrow (because of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act) and will need 2/3rds of the vote in favour. She has challenged the other parties to support her so that the people can ultimately decide which party should take the country through Brexit.

I am a devoted labour supporter but even i have to admit that the labour do not look stable enough to take on the job at the moment.

Apparently, the Conservatives have considered the latest poll over the weekend:

Con = 44%
Lab = 23%
LD = 12%
UKIP = 10%
Other = 10%

YouGov voting intentions

One has to hope the 18-24 year olds vote

badders I think they may vote more after brexit but then I'm not sure. I don't think they will vote so much for the big parties. The greens look good but are tiny.

There is no credible opposition to her in UK. Good move on her part to go before labour has chance to jettison corbyn. And I say that as one who despises Tory part and policies.

A big victory for her, which looks likely, may give even more impetus to Scottish referendum tho.

I don't think Theresa May is impulsive so I doubt this weekend's polls will have been the deciding factor, although I'm sure they helped. I think her decision might have been driven by the way the EU seems to think that they can use her small majority to force her to accept a deal that is poor for the UK. Some in the EU also seem to think they can string the negotiations out until 2020 in the hope of getting a government that would reverse Brexit.

Another factor might be concern that Labour might actually finally jettison Corbyn if the local election results in May are as bad for them as expected. From her point of view there is definitely advantage in having an election while Corbyn is still leader.

I wonder if this all started when the Tories couldn't get the increase in National Insurance for the self-employed through and are are looking to remove the 'triple lock' that the 2015 manifesto tied them to?