In a surprise announcement outside Downing Street yesterday, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May called for a snap election on June 8, just two years after the country's last general election.

Mrs May, who apparently made the decision after a walking holiday in Wales, said the early election was necessary to stop the opposition from "jeopardising" the government's Brexit plans. "We need a general election and we need one now," she said, adding she had come to the conclusion after rival parties kept putting roadblocks that made delivering last year's EU referendum result difficult.

A decisive win for the government at the election would strengthen her hand in the Brexit negotiations, she argued.

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