18/04/2017 Daily Politics

I have just chaired a meeting of the Cabinet where we agreed

that the government should call a general election to be

So in the past hour Theresa May has called a general election -

we'll bring you the latest from here at Westminster.

Reaction from all the parties and - of course - the best analysis...

So - Westminster taken completely by surprise this morning

with the announcement from the Prime Minister of the early

General Election that she had insisted would not happen...

Let's listen to what Theresa May has to say.

I have just chaired a meeting of the Cabinet where we have agreed

the Government should call a general election to be held

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

Since I became Prime Minister the Government has

financial and economic danger, since the referendum we have seen

Economic growth that has exceeded all expectations.

We have also delivered on the mandate that we were handed

Britain is leaving the European Union and there

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 the United Kingdom that is free

That means we will regain control of our own money, our own laws,

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.

The country is coming together but Westminster is not.

In recent weeks, Labour has threatened to vote

against the final agreement we reach with the European Union.

The Liberal Democrats have said they want to grind the business

The Scottish National Party said it will vote against the legislation up

formally repealed Britain's membership of the European Union.

Unelected members of the House of Lords have vowed to fight us

Opponents believe that because the government 's majority is so small,

they can force us to change course. They underestimate our determination

to get the job done. I am not prepared to let them

endanger the security of millions of working people

across the country. What they are doing jeopardises

the work we must do to prepare And it weakens the Government's

negotiating position in Europe. If we do not hold a general election

now, their political And the negotiations

with the European Union will reach their most difficult

stage in the run-up to the next Division in Westminster

will risk our ability to make a success of Brexit and it

will cause damaging uncertainty We need a general election

and we need one now. We have, at this moment,

a one-off chance to get this done while the European Union

agrees its negotiating position I have only recently and reluctantly

come to this conclusion. Since I became Prime Minister,

I have said there should be no Now I have concluded that the only

way to guarantee certainty and stability for the years ahead

is to hold this election and seek your support

for the decisions I must take. And so tomorrow I will move a motion

in the House of Commons, calling for a general election to be

held on the 8th of June. That motion, as set out

by the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, will require a two thirds majority

by the House of Commons. I have a simple challenge

to the opposition parties. You have criticised the Government's

decision for Brexit, challenged our objectives,

threatened to block the legislation This is your moment to show you mean

it, show you are not opposing the Government for the sake of it,

to show that you do not Let us tomorrow vote

for an election. Let us put forward our plans

for Brexit and our alternative plans for government and then let

the people decide. And the decision facing the country

will be all about leadership. It would be a choice between strong

and stable leadership in the national interest 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 A vote for the Conservatives

will make it harder for opposition politicians who want to stop me

from getting the job done. Every vote for the Conservatives

will make me stronger when I negotiate for Britain

with the prime ministers, presidents and chancellors

of the European Union. Every vote for the Conservatives

will mean that we can stick to our plan for a stronger Britain

and take the right long-term It was with reluctance that

I decided the country It is with strong conviction that

I say it is necessary to secure the strong and stable leadership

the country needs to see us 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. Theresa May having delivered that

very dramatic statement that no one was expecting, except we were told

that there would be a statement from Theresa May outside Number 10 but

there was no government logo on that lectin which was an indication that

she might be calling an early General Election.

Joining me in the studio now is former Conservative

Leader Iain Duncan Smith and the Shadow Energy

We are also joined by Laura Kuenssberg. Before I get reaction

from you gentlemen, take us through the hour before she walked those few

paces from the black door at Number 10 to the podium. This is a very

significant turnaround from her. No question. For months there has been

speculation, always killed off by her team, always killed by senior

minister said she does not want an election and we are not going to do

it yet this morning, around 9:30 a.m., there is going to be a left

turn moment. They are huge moments. There was all sorts of speculation,

as you can imagine, first day back from the Easter holidays, everyone

is full of vigour, looking to get going. Rumour mill goes into

hyperdrive, mysteriously, senior sources in government, their phones

and text were not been answered and the news was we have to wait and see

that the Prime Minister says. Shortly after 11 o'clock, one of my

contacts told me it would be a General Election on June the 8th.

She even came I'd earlier than expected and she confirmed that. She

has changed her mind, if we are to believe that. There is an element of

trust here, she has said repeatedly, she would not call a snap election,

it would lead to uncertainty and instability and now she is doing

exactly what she promised she wouldn't and she is calling a

General Election. I think she was right. She said she reluctantly came

to the conclusion and I think it is a balance, all these things are a

balance of decisions about greater instability lies. Do you try and

press on a small majority, get through the biggest single thing any

government has had to do since we joined the European Union? You have

got the negotiations and the European Union to take place where

you need to have a very strong showing and a strong mandate and the

second part is domestically, but also the bill and I was here for the

Maastricht Treaty and I have to tell you, the bill, weather was no chance

we would ever be allowed to vote it down, that took ages to get through,

because every device was used. I use them to slow it down. That was

because the small majority. In the last few days, the polls have

confirmed, in her mind, that there is an opportunity here, Labour is 20

points behind, that is a massive gap not seen since the mid-19 80s. Like

anything else, you want to know you have the chance of having a strong

mandate. The most important poll was not about party polling, it was one

that came out that showed nearly 70% of the public now want to just get

on with it. They don't really want to continue to discuss the Brexit

issue, but they want to see the government make progress and I think

the key point they do not get is the Parliamentary mess that is likely to

happen and I think that is the bit and she really does need to do this,

I know what it is like with the government with a small majority

trying to do that, it is difficult. If you do not have a strong mandate

with a strong vote in Parliament, it makes it more difficult to get this

through. You can hardly blame Theresa May when you look at the

polls and Labour has been digesting them, over the last few weeks and

months, it is an ideal chance for her to capitalise on that and

increase her majority and at the same time in her statement, Blaydon

Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish Nationalists but their

opposition to Brexit negotiations. She must be the first Prime Minister

ever to begin a General Election campaign with a U-turn. That is the

first thing. That is quite extraordinary, quite extraordinary.

You say, well she is blaming the opposition in Parliament for being

so weak and if we are so weak, wide to she need a bigger mandate? If in

fact she is saying that it is because of the chaos in Parliament,

the key thing and the key poll, the weekend was not about the questions

on the polling on the votes, I think it was on the policies. Every

Conservative candidate and every Conservative canvasser will have to

answer three questions. They will have the answer why is it that today

the average earnings are 10% lower in real terms than they were in

2007, why is it today that 1.8 million people are not being seen

within four hours in a and D, when in 2010, that number was 350000 and

why is it today, that we have 200,000 fewer home owners in this

country under a Conservative government. These are the policies

that I am confident resonate with the voters out there. The polls at

the weekend showed that they did. What we have been saying about

carers allowance, what we have been saying about free school meals for

all primary school students, these things are actually popular. Before

we get to the policies, what about the Labour position on the General

Election? We have had a statement from Jeremy Corbyn and the author

that they will vote in favour of the motion that will be put to the House

of Commons to bring on this General Election. The sooner we can get rid

of this Conservative government the better. She says she wants to put

this on Brexit, we know that they want a hard Brexit, it is one that

actually is turning this country backwards and what we want to be

able to articulate and I think what the public actually wants is a

positive Brexit that enables us, yes to have the new relationships that

we need with other countries around the world, but that still maintains

the access and movement of people that is necessary to keep our

business wheels turning. Isn't there a danger of framing this General

Election, presuming everything passes through and it will, isn't

there a danger of framing it along the lines of Brexit and the argument

would be repeated? Absolutely and that was one of the

reasons articulated by people privately close to Theresa May is

they did not want to have an election all about Brexit. That was

one of the arguments in the negative column for not having a general

election and waiting until the deal was finished by 2020. You have had

the pros in one column and the cons in another. The polling suggests

having an election would be advantageous for the Conservatives.

The state of the Labour Party has been in real turmoil in the last 12

months is also in the positive column. In the negative column is a

threat of instability. The idea of going back on her words after she

said she did not want to have an election. But at the end of the day

the political logic, the appeal of looking at polls that puts her so

far ahead of Jeremy Corbyn and the appeal of her having her own mandate

is what has won out. One reason for that is Theresa May in a strange

way, as we saw during the referendum campaign, is not one of those Tory

members who got up to have an argument about the European Union.

She is more interested in the domestic agenda. She was on the

remain side. Yes, she was called the submarine for trying to stay out of

the debate. She has always wanted to do a lot on the domestic front,

grammar schools and changes to social care. The only way she would

be able to do that is where her own majority and this would be one of

the factors that pushed her. Having her own mandate is clearly

important. What is amazing when you talk about Westminster and the

gossip machine is how they managed to keep this under wraps and secret

because nobody knew it. It is one of the features of Theresa May's team.

She has a small circle of people that she trusts. Very small. That

was her at the Home Office and she has taken that into Downing Street.

She has been criticised for that, but it means they have been able to

keep things tight as a drum. There is a fascinating anecdotes in her

biography. Andrea Leadsom told Theresa May two hours before she was

pulling out of the leadership race that she was going to do it. She

told her, you will be the PM, I am off. Theresa May did not even tell

her husband that within a couple of hours she was a dead cert to be

moving into number ten. That is quite a capacity for keeping

secrets. But it also tells us something about her, which is her

vulnerability. Ministers did not know about this idea until this

morning. She has not been cancelled by that many people. A very senior

minister who would be heavily involved in the election told me a

couple of weeks ago there had not been a single conversation with the

Prime Minister about having a general election. Strain is keeping

secrets, but it does not mean the Tory party is very well for this. Or

anybody else. Or anybody else. We will let you go because you have got

weeks and weeks to fill. Thank you for coming in. Let's turn to this

issue of her changing her mind on something fundamental. Was she wrong

initially to rule it out? She ruled it out repeatedly in endless

interviews, saying it was not the right thing to do. Let's hear what

she said to our very own Andrew Neal on this subject.

When you do the deal, when it's clear the terms

with which we will leave the EU, why would you not take that

to the country either in a second referendum or go to the country

in a general election and get the people to vote

What I have said is when we have the deal there will be a vote

Of course there will be votes in parliaments across Europe

because they will need to be a ratification process.

I believe that is the right way to do it, to say to the UK

Parliament this is your opportunity to vote for this deal.

Well, I'm confident we are going to get a deal that is going to be

The British people have basically said to us go on and get on with it,

we want to leave the EU, go out there, get on with it,

Iain Duncan Smith, she went back on her word. She said in a statement

you saw earlier on, and I am a bit like this, a reluctant convert to

the idea of a general election, and she was as well. A few things have

changed over the last couple of months. The first is that getting

that four lying bill through demonstrated how tough it will be to

get this very complex legislation through. It is really complex. This

makes Maastricht looked like a picnic. This will be very big and

very detailed. The Lords is in a peculiar position. You do not have a

majority. We do not, the Liberals are disproportionately represented,

100 Liberals in the Lords and nine members of Parliament. But the Lords

will react to a strong mandate from a general election. They know when

the game is up and they know their limitations. At the moment they have

been able to argue, particularly from the Liberals, but also Labour,

that you do not have a mandate, you were not elected as Prime Minister

and this government was not elected to see this thing through. There has

been a lot of kind of let's have some kind of election. She has

reached a conclusion in the sense that there is a window of

opportunity to do this. France has an election that will not complete

until June. While we have that election they will not be any great

negotiation taking place. Practically this window works. If

you are going to do it, now is the time to do it. Looking at the polls,

the Conservatives will increase their majority and it will make life

much easier for Theresa May to push through the type of Brexit she wants

to say. I admire Iain Duncan Smith's attempt to spin what is clearly a

polling advantage into high principle. It is not. Let's not

pretend it is. You are right, the polls have had an influence in what

she is doing here. But is it in the best interest of not just this

country, but look at what is happening in the world at the

moment? Is it in the best interest of the country when we have a

two-year window to negotiate this deal? Only two years. Nothing will

be done in the German and French elections. She ignored it. She said

the negotiations can go on and they will not be able to go on for two

and a half months as we have an election. No, no, they will be. They

will not be in control, they will be out on the streets. The first stage

of this is negotiation about the overall political... We were talking

about polling and whether that is in the end what changed Theresa May's

mine. Let's talk about it a little further with John Curtice who is in

Edinburgh. First of all, your reaction, general election on June

the 8th. I have to admit I am very surprised. Like Laura Kuenssberg I

took the Prime Minister at her word that she did not want to call a

general election in June. Calling one is not so straightforward. You

will not do that again. The person who really has a decision to make is

Jeremy Corbyn. Despite what Barry Gardiner has been arguing about, the

Labour Party is in favour of an election and we will have one. If

Jeremy Corbyn said no, Theresa May could not have her election, so

Jeremy Corbyn is also making a big decision today as well as the Prime

Minister. And what about the polls? We have already discussed the

headline that Labour is 20 points behind the Conservatives. Some of

the opinion polls suggest Labour's position is as bad as it has been

any time since 2009 in the worst days of Gordon Brown's

administration. But if you take all of the polls, we are looking at a

Conservative lead of around 15 points, 22-27, and if that was to

transpire in the ballot boxes it would result in a majority for the

Conservatives. But we should be careful about talking about a

landslide. These days not only is Northern Ireland out of the frame as

far as the UK wide scene is concerned, but so is Scotland. I

would be surprised if the SNP do not hang onto most of the seeds north of

the border. Dire though Labour's position is, it does have a lot of

very safe seats and getting a majority of 100 is possible, getting

a majority of 170 like Tony Blair got in 1997 could be beyond the

Conservatives. If the poll lead does begin to fall, let's say Jeremy

Corbyn surprises us all and fights a good campaign and the Tory lead goes

down to seven or eight points, Theresa May could discover she does

not have much of a majority than she does already and she might even lose

a few seats to the Liberal Democrats. You can see the

temptation placed in front of her, despite what she said because Labour

had been behind the Conservatives over a long period of time. But it

seems in the last few days something has crystallised in her mind and

pushed her to do this you turn to change her mind and it must be that

massive gap. The opinion polls clearly provide a very substantial

temptation. The interesting thing is what she has not done is to wait for

the results of the local elections on the 4th of May. If you remember

what Margaret Thatcher did in 1983 and 1987 when we were all

speculating about an election, and she decided to call an election. We

will now be intensely looking at the results of those elections and even

in Scotland and Wales, but the dye will already have been passed. What

about voter fatigue? Everyone has been taken by surprise and Laura

Kuenssberg mention people will not be prepared in politics, but also

they will not have been expecting it in the country. Will they thank

Theresa May for this? One of the thing opponents will use against

Theresa May is the fact that you have said she was opposed to the

idea of a general election and the opposition will use that to say, you

cannot trust the Prime Minister at her word. But at the end of the day

that probably is not something voters will be too concerned about.

In so far as the election does focus on the issue of Brexit, given that

we have got a 71% turnout in the referendum, which is relatively

high, I am not sure we should be too concerned about the level of

turnout. I think we will see some reiteration of the arguments about

Brexit and its merits and hard versus soft for much of the campaign

and the question is whether voters will feel that is sufficiently

important and responding by turning to the polling station. The Prime

Minister has announced her intention to call a general election on the

8th of June. So, now the Prime Minister has

announced her intention to call a General Election for 8th June,

what process needs to happen before The Fixed Term Parliaments Act -

introduced under the Coalition government and enshrining

the timescale for elections to be held every five years -

allows two methods for calling The first would be if

two-thirds of MPs backed a motion calling for one -

that would be 434 This is the method Theresa May

has said she will use, and that she will introduce a motion

to parliament tomorrow. The other option is if Parliament

passed a motion of no confidence in the government,

and no other government If the Prime Minister fails to get

the two-thirds majority required in the Commons to call an election,

there are two other The Fixed Term Parliaments Act

could be repealed, which would only require a simple majority of MPs

to vote for it, a lower threshold Or the government could enact

a new law, amending the Act and setting a date

for the next election. Labour this morning confirmed

they will support the motion for an early general election,

meaning it will pass with the two-thirds majority

needed in the Commons. Their election coordinator,

Andrew Gwynne, had told Andrew Neil So as an opposition not wanting

to be in opposition, wanting to be in government,

so should the government put forward a measure in accordance

with the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, then that is something we would very

seriously have to consider. If the government was to issue

a motion in the Commons for an early election,

the Labour Party would vote It would be very difficult not

to because if the government wants to dissolve parliament,

wants a general election, we don't want the Tories

we want to be in government, we want to have that

opportunity to put that case to the British people.

Andrew Quinn, Labour's election coordinator, but you could not say

anything else apart from welcome a general election, otherwise you

would be running scared. The nice thing is we do welcome it and also

the government recognises that the Labour Party will support it. They

have known that, we have made our position very clear. Which is why

she could gain confidence from that. And that is why she is able to do

it. Now she has to work out what is her pitch to the British people? We

have come out with eight very clear, new policies that are very popular

and opinion polls at the weekend showed that. We have come out with a

very clear policies. The government is not running on a new policy

agenda. It is running on a record that has not resolved the economic

problems the country has faced. It has precipitated a crisis within the

health service. We have seen the BMA and the junior doctors dispute. We

have got a crisis in social care and all these problems that the

government has to now come out with manifesto commitments on and there

was nothing of that in her speech. The opposition parties will make it

difficult in terms of the Brexit negotiations, you have reflected on

how hard it was during Maastricht, but is now but this General Election

will be about? Will not be about a domestic agenda on the critical

issues that Barry Gardner has been talking about? It will only be

serving what the Conservative Party seems to be interested in at the

moment and that is the Brexit negotiations? The Conservative Party

is not that interested in the Brexit idea. The vote has been taken and we

have triggered Article 50. That process is in place and that is all

about negotiation and discussion and that is mostly now the government

going out... Why is she calling our General Election? It is about

domestic issues. The fact is she needs a mandate, that this her view,

to get the Brexit legislation through domestically, which is

hugely an issue of numbers in Parliament and the second element is

there is a domestic agenda and she wants to get that through. That was

not mentioned in her statement. We have been announcing that through

the budget and the statement she made in Downing Street. Today, we

talked about the business strategy, the industrial strategy, those are

the things she wants to take forward. They are all part of it.

The fact is the government deals with foreign policy and domestic

issues and as Europe strives both of those, it will be part of it. There

is a really important point. She wants a mandate to be able to govern

with the government that is strong enough in numbers to get their

legislation through, after Brexit, Brexit changed everything. The vote

to leave the European Union changed everything. The public now will face

a choice, do you want a government with a clear and strong leader or do

you want a government that is at war with itself as the Labour Party is,

led by Jeremy Corbyn, that most of his MPs do not want and which has

been foisted on them by the party at large and a Coalition between a

messy Labour Party and the Liberal party that wants to reverse the boat

on Brexit. She did say she would be able to get a good deal for the UK

and on the basis of that good deal, then we could have the General

Election in 2020. Let me come to Barry on that point, she did frame

in her statement that it would be Labour propped up by the Liberal

Democrats with an anti-Brexit tone to the whole campaign. You happy to

painted in that way? If you are seen as the party, with the help of the

SNP and the Liberal Democrats, who will frustrate something that the

Tories keep referring to as the will of the people? We are not

anti-Brexit, we have said that now the referendum has taken place, we

are leaving the European Union. Let us kill that one. Ian has said, it

is a week Labour Party and weak opposition in Parliament, but the

Prime Minister is saying that the reason she is calling this is that

she needs a bigger mandate because of all the problems. The law you are

overrepresented in the Lords and in a wet and you will frustrate...

Barry, finish point. It shows the weakness. The point I'm trying to

make is this an if we are as weak as he says we are, then she does not

lead to increase mandate in the Commons. You know that everything

will go through the Lords eventually because the Lords will respect the

Commons, they always do, but she cannot have it both ways, we cannot

be so weak that she needs a bigger mandate or if she needs a bigger

mandate, it is because she fears that we may be able to influence

legislation and her legislative programme in way she does not want.

We want to see a softer Brexit, not the Brexit that she wants to take a

stand. Let's get more reaction. Theresa May has announced that she

is calling a General Election to take place on June the 8th. She made

the announcement outside Downing Street just after 11 o'clock this

morning to the surprise of everyone. Jeremy Corbyn has been giving his

reaction to the announcement of the Prime Minister.

This is left NHS problems, left her is underfunded and let so many

people uncertain. We want to put a case out there to the people of

Britain of a society that cares for all, an economy that works for all

and a Brexit that works for all. Jeremy Corbyn.

We're joined now by Tom Newton Dunn of the Sun and Paul Mason.

Tom, your reaction to the announcement. I am really surprised

but I am not the only one, so is everyone in NSW won at the moment,

not least because Theresa May said she did not want to do this and

their huge amounts of good reasons for that, not least, they have not

passed the boundary changes which gives the Tories 20 more seats and

takes 20 from Labour so why not wait until October 20 18th of that. What

does it say to the EU? You're going into and credibly complicated

renegotiation not knowing which Prime Minister will be around the

table. We note that this is what Theresa May wanted to avoid and the

question remains, why has she changed her mind? To me, that is not

clear. My best bet would be, on top of the Brexit problem she already

has, she was aware of the lack of parliamentary majority months ago is

the domestic legislation, it is things like grammar schools, her

reforms to corporate governance and even possibly her energy reforms,

she may not have had a majority for that the monster of MPs and perhaps

that is a very good reason, unspoken reason why she wants to do this.

Your thoughts on why she has changed her mind? Is it the polls that put

Labour so far behind? Is at the domestic legislation? There is a

whiff of panic and incompetence in the decision. It is not the polls,

whatever you want to pick, that will be panicking Theresa May, it is the

fact that she has kicked off Article 50 without a plan and on first

contact with the opposition, the EU 27, finds that the EU 27 are

prepared to absolutely destroy her negotiating position. Of course she

needs a mandate, I hope she does not get it and that the British people

will give a mandate to the Liberal Democrats, SNP and Jeremy Corbyn to

engineer and minimal soft, socially just format to Brexit and I think

Theresa May may be about to find out that Turkey just do not vote for

Christmas. Looking at the figures, 48% Remain, 52% Leave, if this

campaign turns out to be a rerun on that referendum, what is the best

she can hope for? It will turn into a rerun of the referendum, because

it will be what type of Brexit and it is unclear where the country

stance on that. Some of the West Country MPs are really unhappy about

this, the Tories have their wafer thin majority simply because they

cleared out the Liberal Democrats in the South West in areas that were

really quite Remain and have a strong Liberal Democrat vote. 20

Tory MPs could be in trouble, so the gamble clearly is, Labour is in such

pieces at the moment, Theresa May would hoover up far more Labour MPs

than the one she would lose to the Liberal Democrats. This is really

unclear at the moment which is why there is an element of risk. Having

your own mandate is the key. That was always going to be the

difficulty for her, that things could be thrown at her as Prime

Minister because she had not won a General Election and with both

domestic policies and the Brexit negotiations, she will be stronger,

psychologically, if she wins a General Election on her own terms?

We need to see what those terms are because there are now people on the

Tory backbenchers saying that they want to use the so-called Great

Repeal Bill to actually tinker with the regulatory situation in Britain

right now. The Tories did to come forward now with a manifesto, not

just say we are going to kick-start article 20 and in two years' time we

will tell you what the outcome is, we need to know what the

Conservative hard Brexit programmers and my prediction is that the

majority of British people will reject it. We need to find the

organisational form for that to happen. I support a Progressive

alliance between Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and the other

nationalist parties to prevent this kamikaze Brexit. We have to scramble

fast to make it happen. What about the preparedness? You have not had

much time to talk to MPs, it has only been announced in the last

couple of hours, but what is the general impression and reaction that

you are being met with at Westminster? They are stunned, we

all are, not least because the Prime Minister said she did not want to do

this. Paul is right to the extent that the Prime Minister will now be

pressed by Labour to define precisely what type of Brexit she is

going to go for because the truth is, she cannot do that because she

has not got a clue. She has got what she likes, her best but that is what

you will put to the polls, but we will not get more detail. There are

enormous issues, like the immigration system, we will not get

any more detail on what immigration system the country will get, over

the next four weeks or eight weeks. I think Theresa May's gamble is,

although no party is prepared for this, she is just a tiny bit more

prepared than Labour is, who really cannot unite around anything at the

moment. I will stop you there. Thank you for your thoughts today. It is a

gamble, it will allow a really hard Brexit, perhaps of the type that you

would be a fan of, to go through, if you win the General Election. I

don't know what they look like. I just know Brexit. It is all very

well for people talking about hard versus soft, they do not know

either. Negotiations are coming up and you want to get the best deal

possible for the UK and that is what she wants the mandate for to make

sure she is seen as a strong leader at home.

We're joined now by the Labour backbencher and Jeremy Corbyn

Do you welcome this General Election and will you be supporting it? It

shows that the Conservative Party is in disarray. Theresa May is trying

to duck the issue by having an election now before she gets to the

point where the damage or more of the damage comes through after the

final agreements. Are you firmly square behind Jeremy Corbyn and the

leader's offers? Any Labour minister is better than a Conservative one

and will do more for constituencies like mine and focusing on jobs and

the NHS, I know he will make a better Prime Minister. You have been

a very staunch critic of him. The last few days have seen one private

e-mail I sent to Jeremy become the focus of office politics rather than

the focus it should have been on. I said we need a communications agenda

that delivers on things like policing and the police in

Bermondsey do not have the resources they need. We are not focused to

much an education. We want those to be the focus of the agenda and that

is what I was asking for and instead I got reported to the Chief Whip. I

think that nonsense will end. Which is nonsense? The Labour Party

leadership nonsense? The internal silliness of reporting an MP to the

Chief Whip for asking for a better communications agenda. Isn't it the

internal infighting that is not going to put you in a good position

for the General Election? I will be fighting as the Labour MP for my

constituency and I hope my electors do not have a short memory and

remember there was a Liberal Democrat before he voted for their

bedroom tax and tuition fees, I think those issues will have

salience with voters. There is nothing like a General Election to

focus the mind of MPs, but with the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, it needs

a majority of MPs to vote it through and I presume you will be voting in

favour of it? There was also the option of a vote of no-confidence

and then having an option for a different Prime Minister altogether.

Theresa May said she would put a motion tomorrow for MPs to call for

a General Election, Barry and Jeremy Corbyn said they would support that,

will you? I don't know because we have not seen the detail of the

statement. I apologise if that is not good enough for you at this

stage. I have not seen it. When I see what is on the table tomorrow, I

will make my mind up then. It is straightforward, if two thirds of

MPs in the House of Commons call for an early election, it will happen.

If that is the motion that goes tomorrow, to you and your colleagues

will you vote in favour? It is not clear and there is a vote of no

confidence as a possibility as well. If that is what she wants, Theresa

May is taking a big gamble, we lost David Cameron and they lost

Goldsmith in London because London and I oppose Brexit. This is a

gamble on the part of the Prime Minister. I take your point but if

that is what Theresa May asked for, will you vote in favour of it? I

have not seen much she is asking for, so this is just speculation.

Let us see what comes up tomorrow. My vote will be recorded in the

public domain. Barry, it seems fairly straightforward, you will be

supporting it and Labour said that they would. Absolutely. I have been

in the position that Neil has been meant for I have not seen a motion,

it caught us all by surprise and I understand his position that says I

will wait and see, but the position of the party is clear and that is

that we welcome the opportunity to get rid of this Conservative

government and to put our policies in front of the electorate.

Will the internal fighting stopped? He has been reported to the Chief

Whip. That took place prior to this morning's announcement. Based on

what we have seen, the party has come back together and we had those

two leadership elections and they are past history. The front bench

has come back and it is operating properly and people are getting out

there, doing the job both for the local elections and now for this

general election. It is about putting policies there and

persuading the public this is in their future best interest. That is

what Neal and I will both be doing. We can now the Liberal Democrat

leader Tim Farron who is in true row and he joins us now. Welcome. First

of all, your response to Theresa May's statement. It is a fantastic

opportunity for British people to change the direction of our country

and vote against a hard Brexit and vote to keep the United Kingdom in

the single market, something that was not on the ballot paper last

year. But it is also an opportunity for Britain to vote for a strong and

decent opposition, something they do not have under Labour, but something

they could have under the Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats see

this as our moment, a moment where Britain could change the direction

of our country. Will people thank you for wanting to rerun the

referendum and the whole idea of Brexit in this general election?

Well, I think the biggest issue of a generation is hardly not going to be

discussed during this general election. It seems to me that given

that membership of the single market was not on the ballot paper last

year and people being for or against leaving the European Union, there

seems to be a majority who think being in the single market would be

good for our economy. To put that front and centre of our campaign

seems to me wise and showed real leadership to bring the country

together. Iain Duncan Smith, how worried are you by the threat of the

Liberal Democrats? I was down in the south-west during the last election

and there seemed to be a huge sense that the time had been and gone and

we one all the seats down there. We won on issues of who do you want to

govern you? I think my colleagues in the South West will have a very

strong election campaign and win. To be fair, the Liberals have been very

clear about their position on this. It is their opportunity to put this

case for a second referendum. If that is what they want to stand on,

let them put it during the general election. That is the point. It will

be over on June the 8th and we will end up with the British mandate the

British people want. Listening to Neill coil it was interesting, the

Labour Party is divided. Some want to have the general election because

they want to get rid of their leader and others want to have it because

they want to win with their leader. Iain Duncan Smith, I think we are

letting you go. Thank you for joining us today on this programme.

A dramatic announcement from the Prime Minister. Tim Farron, what do

you say to Iain Duncan Smith who is not worried about a Lib Dem

challenge in the south-west? He would say that, wouldn't he? The

result in the by-elections in the last ten months here have been

spectacular. Interest in membership has doubled, so there is great

energy down here. But in the last referendum whether people supported

or did not support the outcome of the vote, they want to see a Britain

that does not isolate itself from the rest of the world, but does not

bode to make itself Pura. That is why being in the single market is

critically important and it is one of the things we will campaign on in

the election. It is about changing the direction of our country so it

is open, United and tolerant and it is an opportunity to have a decent

opposition. People favourable to the Conservative Party will agree we

need a stronger Liberal Democrat voice during this election, given

that the Liberal Democrats have been a decent opposition. We are joined

in the studio by Ukip's deputy leader Peter Whittle. What do you

say to Tim Farron saying this is the opportunity for those people who

want to have a Brexit negotiation where we stay in the single market

for those who are not in favour for a hard Brexit leaving the EU. The

challenge is on in this general election. What you do know about the

Lib Dems is basically they are standing essentially on an

anti-democratic platform. They simply will not accept the result

and whichever way Tim Farron dresses it up, if you want to basically go

against democracy, that is the best way to do it, vote Lib Dem. Why is

it against democracy? They have never accepted the actual referendum

result. Whether you say you want to have a referendum on the eve of the

negotiations or a second referendum, this is not accepting a democratic

mandate. Do you think it was right of Theresa May to call for a general

election? It is utterly cynical, it is putting party before country,

there is no question about that. The Scottish Nationalists were told it

was wrong to hold an independence referendum, independent during

Brexit negotiation, but somehow it is right to have a general election.

We are having one now and my party is excited about it. Will you win

any seats? You have not done well up until now. Two years ago we got 4

million votes. We have done a lot of organising since then. We have not

been quiet and just sitting on our hands. Why vote Ukip if it is framed

around Brexit? I huge amount. With this government people are getting

more worried, even though she is having a honeymoon, they hear

nothing about what the government is doing on migration. All they hear is

that migration might well go on at the current levels for another ten

years. This is still the number one issue. People know where my party

stands on this issue. We have other issues, multiculturalism has failed

in Britain. We have problems with radical Islam and extremism. Before

we go to the Green Party's co-leader, what do you say about

migration and multiculturalism? Ukip say that they will hold the Prime

Minister's feet to the fire in a way you have not until now. It may have

been a slip of the tongue, but you said it was the single biggest issue

and then you said it was not the single biggest issue. Immigration is

of great concern for most people, but the country other faces huge

problems that none of the other parties talk about. The key thing

people will look to vote on is what is going to happen in terms of the

economy? What is going to happen in terms of their livelihood and their

jobs? If they feel the sort of Brexit you and the Conservatives

want to take us down the road of, this hard Brexit that will stop free

movement of people, stop immigration entirely... That is what they voted

for, an end to free movement of people. By all means continue to

talk, but I have a right to reply. They will vote for their future jobs

and security. At the moment this is a government that has given people

the likelihood is that they had back in 2007 10% worse in real times.

That is the key issue that most people will vote on. They did not

just vote on economics, they voted on cultural things as well. We must

talk to the Green Party co-leader who has been waiting patiently. You

excited about the prospect of a general election on June the aid?

Really excited. We think this is long overdue, she should have done

this before. We are a party that is offering bold alternatives and an

alternative to cuts in fighting the government's programme of austerity

and we will protect the environment. We are the antidote to Ukip. There

is so much to vote for in the Green Party. Were you surprised by the

announcement? Yes, we were surprised, but we have been calling

for it. She did not have a mandate to force through extreme Brexit. She

needed to get the consent of the British people for what she is doing

because this is not on the ballot paper. On the basis of the polls

with Labour so far behind if they are to be believed, it would improve

Theresa May's position to go ahead with the Brexit she wants, rather

than the opposition parties. If the last two years have taught us

anything, it is that things can happen very quickly and there can be

seismic changes very rapidly. We are polling more highly than we were at

the time of the 2015 general election and we would have had 25

MPs under the basis of a fair voting system under that. We want true

representation of the British people in Parliament. We are willing to

work with other parties and we could see an interesting outcome in seven

weeks' time if those parties commit to working together. We are

different from Labour and the Liberal Democrats and we are making

that clear. You have just one MP at the moment, Caroline Lucas, and she

will vote in favour of the pit term parliaments Pratt said there can be

an early election -- fixed term Parliaments at. What more can you

do? Caroline Lucas won that in 2010 and 2015 and we have got more seats

than Ukip. Once people see as debating and see the policies, we

note in general elections our support goes up when we get fair

exposure in the media and across the BBC. We will have that problem,

democratic process where people can see what we stand for and we are

optimistic about making gains. Well, you have had your fair hearing here

on the BBC. Let's continue getting reaction from all the parties. Let's

hear what Nicola Sturgeon had to say. Is is a big U-turn in recent

political history, but it is clear the Prime Minister's announcement

today is all about the narrow interests of her own party and not

the interests of the country overall. Clearly she sees the

opportunity, given the total disarray in the ranks of the Labour

Party to crush all opposition, to get rid of people who disagree with

her and to give herself a free hand to take the country in an

increasingly right-wing direction. That would mean not just the hardest

possible Brexit, but more austerity and deep cuts. Now is the time for

Scotland's voice to be heard and for people in Scotland to stand up for

the type of country we want Scotland to be and that is the campaign I

look forward to leading in the weeks ahead. Everyone is an election

footing. Before we go, time to get the latest odds from Jessica Bridge

of Ladbrokes. Take us through the odds. As Christmas come early? We

are looking at the most seats and the Tories are 1-10 favourites. You

need to place ?10 to win just ?1 in return. That is how sure we are with

that. Can Jeremy Corbyn spring the second political upset of his

career? Frankly, no. Labour are 7-1. This represents a huge opportunity

for the Lib Dems and Tim Farron at 33-1. They think they can steal some

seats. Still a big prize, but not as big a prize as for Ukip at 100-1.

The bet down here which a lot of punters will think is nailed, and

1-5 is generous, Jeremy Corbyn to be replaced as leader of the Labour

Party this year. Those odds will probably be 1-10 by the time I have

finished. Jeremy Corbyn doesn't look like he will get much past June as

far as the odds are concerned with a Tory victory. Let's get reaction to

that. All of this is a great bit of fun and people will no doubt have a

punt. But this is not a presidential race. This is not America. We do not

do things like America in terms of presidential and personality. This

is about policy. What every Labour MP and counsellor and member will be

doing is going out on the doorsteps and making sure that we get across

the policies that we have been talking about that this weekend were

shown to be popular with people because they thought those were the

things that really spoke to their lives. You are focusing everything

on policy and not on Jeremy Corbyn as leader? Not at all, do not forget

it is under Jeremy Corbyn that those policies have been put forward that

found so much favour with the public this weekend. We are talking about

carers' allowance, parents in schools, all of these things are

important in this general election. Thank you for being with us right to

the end, the last man standing. The one o'clock news is starting

over on BBC One now.