:00:08. > :00:13.I'm Ros Atkins. Welcome to Outside Source. The UK is heading to the
:00:14. > :00:18.polls for the third time in three years. I have just chaired a meeting
:00:19. > :00:23.of the Cabinet where we agreed that the Government should call a general
:00:24. > :00:28.election to be held on the 8th of June. Theresa May says she wants a
:00:29. > :00:32.new mandate before Brexit negotiations begin. Her opponents,
:00:33. > :00:36.though, have other ideas. I welcome the opportunity for us to put the
:00:37. > :00:39.case to the people of Britain. Now is the time for Scotland's voice to
:00:40. > :00:44.be heard. We're prepared for an election that we thought was going
:00:45. > :00:49.to happen. Donald Tusk is saying Brexit is now like a hitch cock
:00:50. > :00:54.film, an earthquake followed by ever rising tension. We hear from other
:00:55. > :00:57.EU big hitters too. We report from all over the UK. We know for some of
:00:58. > :01:04.you it's not the news you wanted to hear. Not another one! Oh, for God's
:01:05. > :01:08.sake. I can't honestly, I can't stand this. Those of you who can't
:01:09. > :01:12.stand it and are going to carry on watching, if you have questions, we
:01:13. > :01:17.know lots of you do, send them my way. We will get into them through
:01:18. > :01:34.the hour. E-mail, find us on social media and the hashtag is BBC OS.
:01:35. > :01:40.Ever since she became Prime Minister, Theresa May has said there
:01:41. > :01:44.will be no early election. Well, she's changed her mind. Earlier she
:01:45. > :01:49.explained her reasons why. I have just chaired a meeting of the
:01:50. > :01:54.Cabinet, where we agreed that the Government should call a general
:01:55. > :02:00.election to be held on the 8th of June. I want to explain the reasons
:02:01. > :02:04.for that decision, what will happen next and the choice facing the
:02:05. > :02:12.British people when you come to vote in this election. Last summer, after
:02:13. > :02:17.the country voted to leave the European Union, Britain needed
:02:18. > :02:22.certainty, stability and strong leadership. Since I became Prime
:02:23. > :02:27.Minister, the Government has delivered precisely that. The Prime
:02:28. > :02:33.Minister went on to address the issue of disunity in Westminster. At
:02:34. > :02:39.this moment of enormous national significance, there should be unity
:02:40. > :02:43.here in Westminster. But instead, there is division. The country is
:02:44. > :02:49.coming together but Westminster is not. In recent weeks, Labour have
:02:50. > :02:54.threatened to vote against the final agreement we reach with the European
:02:55. > :03:00.Union. The Liberal Democrats have said they want to grind the business
:03:01. > :03:03.of Government to a stand still. The Scottish National Party say they
:03:04. > :03:07.will vote against the legislation that formally repeals Britain's
:03:08. > :03:11.membership of the European Union. And unelected members of the House
:03:12. > :03:17.of Lords have vowed to fight us every step of the way. Our opponents
:03:18. > :03:21.believe because the Government's majority is so small, that our
:03:22. > :03:27.resolve will weaken and that they can force us to change course. They
:03:28. > :03:32.are wrong. Not everyone would agree with the Prime Minister's analysis
:03:33. > :03:36.that the country is coming together, nor that Westminster will be united
:03:37. > :03:41.after this election. We shall have to wait for the election results. We
:03:42. > :03:46.do know the next scheduled vote had been in 2020, but the new date, as
:03:47. > :03:50.the Prime Minister told us is June 8th, under seven weeks away. For
:03:51. > :03:54.that to happen, we need to see a two thirds vote in the House of Commons
:03:55. > :04:00.tomorrow. As the Opposition Labour Party agrees with the plan, it's
:04:01. > :04:03.going to happen. That issue and many other issues raised by the Prime
:04:04. > :04:07.Minister's announcement can be found on the BBC News website, where
:04:08. > :04:11.there's comprehensive coverage on the app as well. You can send us
:04:12. > :04:15.questions through the hour, the e-mail, hashtag and our social media
:04:16. > :04:19.contacts are on screen throughout. Let's go live to Westminster.
:04:20. > :04:23.Christian Fraser is there. Christian, has it sunk in yet for
:04:24. > :04:26.everyone at Westminster? They're all on their starter's blocks. I don't
:04:27. > :04:30.think they can quite believe it, no. Most of them, particularly within
:04:31. > :04:33.the Conservative ranks, suspected that she would look at it more
:04:34. > :04:37.closely given the polls, still they had no word that she was going to
:04:38. > :04:42.call an election this morning. Certainly they were saying the Prime
:04:43. > :04:45.Minister has a poker face for us. -- poker face, Ros. It's been
:04:46. > :04:48.interesting seeing how the different parties are fighting this election
:04:49. > :04:52.on different platforms. They're focussing on different issues. Yes,
:04:53. > :04:55.they are. That's going to be the really interesting thing. First off,
:04:56. > :04:59.the Conservatives as you heard from Theresa May will campaign on
:05:00. > :05:04.leadership and making Brexit work. Of course, the Liberal Democrats who
:05:05. > :05:09.are opposed to Brexit, they will campaign the other way and looking
:05:10. > :05:12.to target the Remain voters. The conundrum has been for the Labour
:05:13. > :05:16.Party. We heard from Jeremy Corbyn, the Opposition Labour leader in
:05:17. > :05:19.Birmingham today. He talked about housing and education, and the NHS
:05:20. > :05:23.and those are key and very important issues for people on the doorstep,
:05:24. > :05:27.of course. He didn't mention Brexit. All those things really could be
:05:28. > :05:30.affected by Brexit. Brexit is very much the elephant in the room. He's
:05:31. > :05:34.going to have to address the issue at some point. It's not that easy
:05:35. > :05:38.for some of the Labour mpds. Because some of them voted Remain and some
:05:39. > :05:42.of them are in Brexit constituencies. So it is Labour,
:05:43. > :05:45.when you look at those three parties first in England, that are going to
:05:46. > :05:52.have the biggest challenge on the doorstep. Then of course, you look
:05:53. > :05:56.at the SNP? Scotland, who are very much the commanding voice in
:05:57. > :05:58.Scotland with 59 seats. They will be campaigning on independence, you
:05:59. > :06:02.would expect. Certainly the independence idea will come into the
:06:03. > :06:05.campaign, perhaps the other parties will want to bring that into the
:06:06. > :06:09.debate as well. Yes all the different parties voting on
:06:10. > :06:13.different issues. We've got a question from Rohit in India, is the
:06:14. > :06:16.fact the Prime Minister is calling this election evidence that she's
:06:17. > :06:21.failed to build a good enough consensus for her programme? No, for
:06:22. > :06:24.me, as you said, two weeks ago, before the recess, she was saying
:06:25. > :06:28.she didn't want an election. Then she went walking in the Welsh hills
:06:29. > :06:32.and somehow changed her mind. Three things will have played on her mind,
:06:33. > :06:36.first of all, the polling. We can't trust polling, not absolutely. But
:06:37. > :06:39.the polling at the moment is so overwhelmingly in her favour and she
:06:40. > :06:44.will have taken that into account. As you heard from her there, she has
:06:45. > :06:47.a small majority. When it comes to the Brexit negotiation, there will
:06:48. > :06:51.have to be compromise, but some of her backbenchers within her own
:06:52. > :06:55.party don't want her to compromise. She has a bigger majority. That sort
:06:56. > :06:59.of problem goes away. The third thing, you will know this from your
:07:00. > :07:03.time in brufrlz recently, is that when she goes to face up the other
:07:04. > :07:07.27 European leaders, she is the only one that has not got the mandate
:07:08. > :07:11.from the people. She was shoved in after the referendum vote, but she's
:07:12. > :07:15.not had the green card from the British people. That will certainly
:07:16. > :07:19.strengthen her hand if she has a majority and she puts what she wants
:07:20. > :07:21.from Brexit in the Conservative Party manifesto, she can stand at
:07:22. > :07:25.the dispatch box here across the road and say, this is what they
:07:26. > :07:29.voted for and she can do the same thing when she goes to Brussels.
:07:30. > :07:33.Christian, thank you for the moment. Mentioning Brussels, we are live
:07:34. > :07:37.there later. Now let's look at some of the contenders in this election.
:07:38. > :07:40.Theresa May, the Prime Minister, she leads the Conservatives. Jeremy
:07:41. > :07:45.Corbyn leads the Opposition Labour Party. Tim Farron leads the Liberal
:07:46. > :07:49.Democrats, another Opposition party. Then there's Nicola Sturgeon of the
:07:50. > :07:53.Scottish National Party. We've got to think about the Green Party, who
:07:54. > :07:57.say they welcome this announcement. Join us to fight for a fewer chore
:07:58. > :08:01.to be proud of. We've heard from the UK Independence Party saying, "We
:08:02. > :08:06.welcome this, but make no mistake, it's driven by Labour's weakness,
:08:07. > :08:11.not the good of the country." Here's how it's standing in the BBC poll of
:08:12. > :08:19.polls. You can see the Conservatives way out ahead on 43%. Labour on 25,
:08:20. > :08:24.Ukip 11, the greens 4, the SNP 5 and the Lib Dems 10. We will speak to a
:08:25. > :08:27.pollster in a little while. All the Opposition parties are saying they
:08:28. > :08:32.welcome this election. Let's hear from Jeremy Corbyn. I welcome the
:08:33. > :08:37.opportunity for us to put the case to the people of Britain, to stand
:08:38. > :08:41.up against this Government and its failed economic agenda, which has
:08:42. > :08:44.left our NHS in problems, which has left our schools underfunded, which
:08:45. > :08:49.has left so many people uncertain. We want to put a case out there for
:08:50. > :08:53.the people of Britain of a society that cares for all, an economy that
:08:54. > :08:58.works for all and a Brexit that works for all. That's Labour, right
:08:59. > :09:01.after the announcement, the Lib Dem leader took to Twitter to say, "This
:09:02. > :09:06.is your chance to change the direction of your country." He went
:09:07. > :09:10.straight into campaign mode in Truro in the south-west of England. It's
:09:11. > :09:13.an opportunity for the people of this country to change the direction
:09:14. > :09:17.of this country, to decide that they do not want a hard Brexit, they want
:09:18. > :09:22.to keep Britain in the single market. And indeed, it's an
:09:23. > :09:26.opportunity for us to have a decent, strong Opposition in this country
:09:27. > :09:30.that we desperately need. Next Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of
:09:31. > :09:34.Scotland. Here she is on Twitter, "The Tories see a chance to move the
:09:35. > :09:40.UK to the right forced through a hard Brexit and impose deeper cuts.
:09:41. > :09:44.Let's stand up for Scotland." And as all major politicians have been
:09:45. > :09:47.today, she's been talking as well. Clearly, she sees the opportunity
:09:48. > :09:52.given the total disarray in the ranks of the Labour Party to crush
:09:53. > :09:56.all opposition to her, to get rid of people that disagree with her and to
:09:57. > :10:00.give herself a free hand to take the country in the increasing right-wing
:10:01. > :10:04.direction she wants to take it in. That would mean not just the hardest
:10:05. > :10:08.possible Brexit but more austerity and deeper cuts. Now is the time for
:10:09. > :10:11.Scotland's voice to be heard and for people in Scotland to stand up for
:10:12. > :10:14.the kind of country we want Scotland to be and that's the campaign that I
:10:15. > :10:19.look forward to leading in the weeks ahead. Now this is where we are at
:10:20. > :10:23.the moment: The Conservatives have 101 more seats than Labour in the
:10:24. > :10:29.House of Commons. When you factor in all the other parties, that adds up
:10:30. > :10:33.to a 12-seat majority in the 2015 election. I should say the
:10:34. > :10:36.Conservatives have got 6% more of the popular vote than Labour. These
:10:37. > :10:41.are the results from at the time. Ukip performed well, over 12%. The
:10:42. > :10:46.Liberal Democrats close to 8%, SNP under 5% and the Greens on 3%.
:10:47. > :10:50.Looking ahead, here's the analysis of one of the top polling experts in
:10:51. > :10:55.the UK, John Curtis and how he sees this race panning out. It is quite
:10:56. > :10:59.difficult these days for either party to actually win a land slide
:11:00. > :11:02.in the House of Commons, because not only is Northern Ireland now out of
:11:03. > :11:06.the UK-wide political picture, so also is Scotland. I would be
:11:07. > :11:10.surprised if the SNP don't hang onto most of the seats north of the
:11:11. > :11:13.border that they won two years ago. Secondly, although the Labour Party
:11:14. > :11:17.are in a dire position in the opinion polls, a lot of the seats
:11:18. > :11:20.that they have are safe ones. The truth is therefore, if actually the
:11:21. > :11:24.opinion polls were to narrow during the course of this campaign, I think
:11:25. > :11:29.we should bear in mind in particular Theresa May is very much now going
:11:30. > :11:32.for a vote Conservative for my vision of Brexit and that perhaps is
:11:33. > :11:36.going to make some Conservative voters unhappy, if that lead were to
:11:37. > :11:39.narrow, then we could discover that she's back with a rather smaller
:11:40. > :11:47.majority than perhaps she is hoping for this morning. Let's speak to
:11:48. > :11:51.Bobby Duffy from Ipsos MORI. Let's deep with the question you must be
:11:52. > :11:54.asked a lot, why trust polls given the problems we've had? We had some
:11:55. > :11:59.problems, some issues with particular polls. But if you look
:12:00. > :12:03.around the world and look at the role of the polls, the results from
:12:04. > :12:07.the polls in so many countries, they're more often right than wrong.
:12:08. > :12:13.There's been really tricky contests, like Brexit, in particular and Trump
:12:14. > :12:17.in the US. Where we're talking about 50/50 races where the expectations
:12:18. > :12:22.of accuracy on those polls is incredibly high. What we have now is
:12:23. > :12:26.a more healthy look at news polls, treat them with respect and treat
:12:27. > :12:30.them with caution. I was saying that this is less about the popular vote,
:12:31. > :12:33.more about how the vote breaks down in constituencies. Is that how you
:12:34. > :12:36.approach polling? In the national polls that you see in the media,
:12:37. > :12:41.they're just national. They don't take account of how it breaks down
:12:42. > :12:44.into seats. We help conduct the exit poll that Professor Curtis runs and
:12:45. > :12:48.that's about seat projections. The ones that you see in the paper, day
:12:49. > :12:51.to day, don't tell you anything about how the seats break down, just
:12:52. > :12:56.what the national vote is saying. But that is still a crucial
:12:57. > :13:00.indicator. What you see right now is the Conservative Party polling on
:13:01. > :13:05.around 45%, 46% in the most recent polls. That's even after the
:13:06. > :13:10.announcement today. That is an incredible lead and it's similar to
:13:11. > :13:15.Margaret Thatcher had in 1983, when she had a major victory. It's almost
:13:16. > :13:21.exactly the same as Tony Blair ended up with in 1997, when he had
:13:22. > :13:25.179-seat majority. As Professor Curtis says, it won't happen quite
:13:26. > :13:28.like that. But you could see a three-figure majority. What are the
:13:29. > :13:33.main issues in deciding which way people are going? It's leadership,
:13:34. > :13:38.who people trust with the economy. And in particular, now, Brexit.
:13:39. > :13:42.Brexit is tied up so much with economic success, the future of the
:13:43. > :13:45.country, those three issues, leadership, economy and Brexit are
:13:46. > :13:49.the things people are most focussed on. The Labour Party has its work
:13:50. > :13:53.cut out if the polls are to be believed. That's a big if, but if we
:13:54. > :13:58.take those polls at face value, why is Labour struggling? Can we pin
:13:59. > :14:03.point particular issues it's facing? On leadership, you see Theresa May
:14:04. > :14:09.polling at plus 33 in terms of views of her leadership. You see Jeremy
:14:10. > :14:14.Corbyn polling at minus 40. That's a big issue. In terms of who you trust
:14:15. > :14:18.on the economy, you have the Conservatives polling three or four
:14:19. > :14:23.times the level you see with Labour. On clarity of what your position on
:14:24. > :14:26.Brexit, Labour as we heard from the previous piece, has a real issue
:14:27. > :14:30.there, particularly in the types of seats that they represent, where the
:14:31. > :14:34.population is often very split. Have you cancelled your holidays? Luckily
:14:35. > :14:38.I've just been on holiday. I'm so pleased. Good to see you. Thank you
:14:39. > :14:42.very much. We will have more on Theresa May's
:14:43. > :14:52.decision to hold an election coming up here on Outside Source.
:14:53. > :14:59.The UK Independence Party faces a major test in the general election
:15:00. > :15:04.happens as planned in June. It's almost certain to. Its only member
:15:05. > :15:07.of Parliament Douglas Carswell quit the party earlier this month. The
:15:08. > :15:11.leader described the Prime Minister's decision to soak a snap
:15:12. > :15:17.general election as the mother of all U-turns. I actually don't think
:15:18. > :15:20.it's very good for the country. It creates instability and strange
:15:21. > :15:23.isn't it that she was saying that Nicola Sturgeon can't have a
:15:24. > :15:27.referendum on independence before 2020 because it would create
:15:28. > :15:30.uncertainty. A general election creates more uncertainty than
:15:31. > :15:35.anything else. However, Ukip will fight it and fight it hard. OK she's
:15:36. > :15:39.invoked Article 50, but the negotiations haven't even begun yet.
:15:40. > :15:45.We know that she's already back tracking over immigration. When
:15:46. > :15:48.people voted on June 23, they voted not to control immigration but cut
:15:49. > :15:51.immigration. They are saying immigration figures will continue to
:15:52. > :16:02.be the same for ten years. That isn't what people voted for.
:16:03. > :16:08.I'm Ros Atkins with Outside Source. The British Prime Minister has
:16:09. > :16:12.announced that she will ask Parliament to vote for holding a
:16:13. > :16:15.snap general election on June 8. Let's bring you some of the main
:16:16. > :16:19.stories from BBC World Service. First of all, the US president,
:16:20. > :16:23.Donald Trump, has just signed an executive order to review a
:16:24. > :16:27.temporary visa programme placing foreign workers in US jobs. He's
:16:28. > :16:33.signed the so-called buy America hire America order on a visit to a
:16:34. > :16:37.tool factory in Wisconsin. BBC Chinese is reporting that America
:16:38. > :16:40.and Japan have agreed to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on
:16:41. > :16:45.North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme.
:16:46. > :16:48.French security forces in Marseille have arrested two suspected Islamist
:16:49. > :16:50.militants, thought to have been planning a terrorist attack, before
:16:51. > :16:56.the first round of the presidential election on Sunday.
:16:57. > :17:01.This on Facebook, police say a man suspected of shooting a man in Ohio,
:17:02. > :17:05.posting a video of the killing onto Facebook, has taken his own life.
:17:06. > :17:09.Steve Stephens shot himself in his car after a police chase in
:17:10. > :17:16.Pennsylvania. That's on the BBC News website.
:17:17. > :17:20.Theresa May would almost certainly not be Prime Minister right now if
:17:21. > :17:24.it weren't for Brexit. Her decision to call this election is also
:17:25. > :17:30.connected to it. She says she wants a clear mandate before the Brexit
:17:31. > :17:33.negotiations begin and the EU is already busy preparing for that
:17:34. > :17:37.moment. We know the 27 EU leaders meet next weekend to adopt their
:17:38. > :17:41.negotiating guidelines. European Council president, Donald Tusk, one
:17:42. > :17:50.of the most senior figures in the EU, has been feeling descriptive
:17:51. > :17:52.today. He says: The European Parliament's chief Brexit
:17:53. > :17:56.negotiating says, "The UK election is an internal affair. But clearly
:17:57. > :18:03.Brexit will be the key element of it." That's certainly how the Lib
:18:04. > :18:07.Dems would like it to be. They're emphasising Brexit. If you listen to
:18:08. > :18:10.Labour today, the family I has not been there, it's on health,
:18:11. > :18:14.education and a fair society. So the different parties are putting their
:18:15. > :18:20.emphasis is different areas. This has come through from the German
:18:21. > :18:25.Foreign Minister. "Uncertainty is certainly not good for relations
:18:26. > :18:31.between the EU and the UK. Hopefully new elections will lead to more
:18:32. > :18:34.clarity and more predictability." I wonder if Jackie Davis thinks that's
:18:35. > :18:40.going to happen. She's a well known EU analyst. Good to have you back.
:18:41. > :18:44.Is it overly optimistic to think an election can deliver a clearer and
:18:45. > :18:49.more stable situation? Well, I think there is a feeling here that it may
:18:50. > :18:54.increase the room for manoeuvre. That at the moment, Theresa May is
:18:55. > :18:57.having to always talk a very tough line with the EU, if there is to be
:18:58. > :19:00.a deal at the end of these negotiations, it's going to take
:19:01. > :19:04.compromise on both sides. There has been a concern that because she
:19:05. > :19:08.didn't have her own mandate, because she had to keep her own political
:19:09. > :19:11.party happy, that was driving her to take a very tough line, go for hard
:19:12. > :19:16.Brexit. There are people saying tonight, if she wins and she wins
:19:17. > :19:20.big, then she'll have the room for manoeuvre, and we may get a better
:19:21. > :19:23.deal for both sides. Others say, actually this raises the stakes.
:19:24. > :19:28.Because if she doesn't get the deal she wants, she may be more willing
:19:29. > :19:32.to walk away from the talks, arguing she has a mandate to do that as
:19:33. > :19:35.well. Most people here saying yes, could bring more clarity and
:19:36. > :19:39.predictability. But it is quite a risky strategy. It doesn't sound
:19:40. > :19:43.like anyone isn't expecting her not to be the Prime Minister in a couple
:19:44. > :19:46.of months? I think they look at the opinion polls, the way everybody
:19:47. > :19:49.does, and with that lead, the feeling is that she is taking a
:19:50. > :19:53.gamble, she believes she can win and the polls suggest she can. Indeed,
:19:54. > :19:57.one of the question marks here is if it wasn't her, if it was for
:19:58. > :20:00.example, Jeremy Corbyn, what do we know about him? We know that the
:20:01. > :20:05.Labour Party is very divided. We know he was very lukewarm during the
:20:06. > :20:08.referendum campaign, so he would be very much an unknown quantity were
:20:09. > :20:12.that to happen, then the whole thing would be thrown into doubt and a big
:20:13. > :20:16.question mark here because the time table for these negotiations is very
:20:17. > :20:20.tight. It's only two years. The clock has already been ticking since
:20:21. > :20:23.Article 50 was triggered, those divorce proceedings began. Now for
:20:24. > :20:27.the moment, it doesn't matter. The EU is busy getting its own ducks in
:20:28. > :20:32.a row. They won't be ready until towards the end of May any way to
:20:33. > :20:35.start detailed negotiations. So this timing doesn't delay that process.
:20:36. > :20:40.If it were to lead to a political upheaval, and there was a lot of
:20:41. > :20:42.calculating to do after the election domestically, taking people's eye on
:20:43. > :20:47.the Brexit ball, that time table could also come under immense
:20:48. > :20:50.pressure. So on balance, people feeling this doesn't need to be too
:20:51. > :20:53.disruptive. It could be a good thing. But it is a gamble and people
:20:54. > :20:58.will be watching very nervously from Brussels. I know you're going to be
:20:59. > :21:02.watching carefully, this summit with the 27 leaders, not this weekend,
:21:03. > :21:06.but next. Might this uncertainty over who they're going to be
:21:07. > :21:12.negotiating with affect the position that the EU adopts? I don't think
:21:13. > :21:16.so. The EU is very clear about what its red lines are. Its fundamental
:21:17. > :21:19.principles that you cannot cherry-pick, you cannot have the
:21:20. > :21:23.rights and benefits of membership without the responsibilities. They
:21:24. > :21:27.are going to be drawing pretty clear lines. What they will be hoping
:21:28. > :21:33.though is up until now they've not really been sure where the UK's real
:21:34. > :21:36.red lines are. They will be watching because as Theresa May and other
:21:37. > :21:39.leaders set out their visions of the Brexit world, what they really want,
:21:40. > :21:43.there's not been a lot of clarity on that till now. They'll be looking
:21:44. > :21:47.for clues and signs and hoping to get more of an idea. When it comes
:21:48. > :21:50.to the fundamentals of their negotiating stance, that there is a
:21:51. > :21:54.divorce bill to be paid, that we talk money first, later we will talk
:21:55. > :21:58.trade, but only later, on those basic principles I think they're
:21:59. > :22:03.going to be pretty clear and pretty tough, whoever wins the election.
:22:04. > :22:10.Jackie, we always like having you, thank you very much.
:22:11. > :22:14.Now, over the past few months, we have heard variations on this
:22:15. > :22:17.statement from Theresa May many times. I'm not going to be calling a
:22:18. > :22:21.snap election. I've been very clear that I think we need that period of
:22:22. > :22:24.time, that stability to be able to deal with the issues that the
:22:25. > :22:29.country is facing and have that election in 2020. Now that's
:22:30. > :22:37.changed. Theresa May needs to find a way to hold this election. This is a
:22:38. > :22:40.tweet from the FT's law and policy commentator, saying, oh, God now
:22:41. > :22:44.everyone will become an expert on the fixed term parliaments act 2011.
:22:45. > :22:48.This is the worst possible outcome." What he's referring to is the law
:22:49. > :22:52.put in place by David Cameron that fixed UK general elections to the
:22:53. > :23:00.first Thursday of May every five years. Under this law, the next
:23:01. > :23:03.election is to 2020. Let's do a BBC reality check on how Theresa May
:23:04. > :23:08.might get around that commitment. The first way to do that would be to
:23:09. > :23:12.overturn the entire act, something that the Government would be very
:23:13. > :23:17.unlikely to be able to do quickly, if at all. Instead, Theresa May's
:23:18. > :23:21.going to seek cross-party support for an early election. We know there
:23:22. > :23:24.are 650 seats in the House of Commons. If an early election is
:23:25. > :23:31.going to be allowed and there'll be vote on this tomorrow, Wednesday,
:23:32. > :23:36.434 MPs need to back the idea. Bear in mind, all of the parties have
:23:37. > :23:40.indicated they're going to support this, importantly the Labour Party,
:23:41. > :23:43.which has a great many MPs to put behind the Government's position,
:23:44. > :23:48.has said it will support the idea. So it's very hard to think of
:23:49. > :23:51.anything but the most far fetched scenarios where this vote doesn't go
:23:52. > :23:55.through. Let's bring in the BBC's Christian
:23:56. > :23:59.Fraser, live with us from Westminster. Christian, a few of our
:24:00. > :24:06.viewers have raised the point of - why do we have the fixed term bill
:24:07. > :24:11.if whenever you need to bypass it you can? It's interesting looking at
:24:12. > :24:14.your reality check there. I had the former Culture Secretary with me
:24:15. > :24:18.about an hour ago. He's very much feeling his way through the dark on
:24:19. > :24:22.this. He doesn't understand how it works. Maybe some other people more
:24:23. > :24:26.familiar with this act could confirm to me. He seemed to suggest that the
:24:27. > :24:28.Conservative side and of course they stand full square behind their
:24:29. > :24:32.Government, but the Conservative side to trigger this would have vote
:24:33. > :24:36.a no confidence vote in the Government or at least that is what
:24:37. > :24:40.they thought. Which tells you, even a former senior member of Government
:24:41. > :24:44.doesn't really understand how it works and doesn't particularly like
:24:45. > :24:47.the legislation. It was introduced in 2011, incidentally, when David
:24:48. > :24:51.Cameron was leading a coalition Government. We'd come out of the
:24:52. > :24:54.financial crisis. What he wanted was more stability so that Prime
:24:55. > :24:57.Ministers couldn't call snap elections. So he would have this
:24:58. > :25:01.four or five year period with a coalition Government. Now it suits a
:25:02. > :25:04.Conservative Prime Minister to rip it all up and say, actually let's
:25:05. > :25:10.have the snap election because we need it. One minute left, here's a
:25:11. > :25:14.question from Chris. Are we going to see the same constituencies as 2015
:25:15. > :25:18.or with will the new proposed constituencies be used? That's a
:25:19. > :25:21.very good question. I would think the same constituencies, I'm talking
:25:22. > :25:24.here without knowing the full facts, I would think we'll see the same
:25:25. > :25:30.constituencies. We only have six weeks. So I think it would be a bit
:25:31. > :25:33.much to put all the new boundary changes and they are considerable
:25:34. > :25:37.around the country, into play in that short space of time. I think
:25:38. > :25:40.they were being geared towards 2020. I think they'll be for the next
:25:41. > :25:43.general election down-the-line. Christian, thank you very much. We
:25:44. > :25:46.leave it there for a moment. We're back with Christian in a few
:25:47. > :25:49.minutes. Keep your questions coming. You can see the hashing it and the
:25:50. > :25:54.e-mail on the screen throughout. We'll be back in a couple of minutes
:25:55. > :26:00.with more on this election, which is coming on June 8.