:00:19. > :00:21.Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be
:00:22. > :00:27.With me are Laura Perrins, co-editor of political site,
:00:28. > :00:29.The conservative Women, and Joe Watts, political editor
:00:30. > :00:33."Stunned Britain heads to the polls," is the i's headline,
:00:34. > :00:36.after the Prime Minister called for a snap election in seven weeks.
:00:37. > :00:40.The Daily Mail says Theresa May has called the bluff of what the paper
:00:41. > :00:46.describes as, "The game-playing remoaners."
:00:47. > :00:48.It says the PM has vowed to crush the saboteurs.
:00:49. > :00:51.The Metro says the Prime Minister is seeking to strengthen her hand
:00:52. > :00:56.Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror calls to mind the famous Margaret Thatcher
:00:57. > :01:00.quote, saying apparently, "The lady is for U-turning."
:01:01. > :01:03.The FT leads with the economic implications of the upcoming vote
:01:04. > :01:08.and reports a rise in the pound in hopes of a softer EU departure.
:01:09. > :01:11.The Times speculates that Theresa May is on course to win
:01:12. > :01:16.a majority of more than 100 in the June snap election.
:01:17. > :01:17.Meanwhile, the Guardian criticises the announcement,
:01:18. > :01:20.saying it came despite the Prime Minister's previous
:01:21. > :01:26.And finally, the Telegraph has an exclusive article
:01:27. > :01:29.by the Prime Minister, in which she says a snap election
:01:30. > :01:37.is the only way to ensure Brexit success.
:01:38. > :01:49.We're gonna start with the i, and we had Brenda from Bristol in a lot of
:01:50. > :01:57.reports saying, oh, no, not again, not another election. There might be
:01:58. > :02:02.some fatigue. I also think Brenda is privileged to live in a country with
:02:03. > :02:04.democratic elections. If she doesn't like elections, she should move to
:02:05. > :02:16.North Korea. I can't believe it. People will go
:02:17. > :02:22.to the polls, yes, not everyone follows as closely as you and I
:02:23. > :02:27.would. No, no one does. If you don't want to vote, you don't have to. You
:02:28. > :02:32.take the manifesto as a whole, you see what is in Britain's best
:02:33. > :02:37.interest, and a huge majority will return the Conservatives to victory
:02:38. > :02:45.on June the eighth. Well, we'll see. The country is stunned. I mean, the
:02:46. > :02:49.referendum, the election in 2015, we have had two assembly elections in
:02:50. > :02:53.Northern Ireland, that's a lot. It is but it will be interesting to
:02:54. > :02:57.look at the 2015 election when people said that candidates looked
:02:58. > :03:02.at the same and they couldn't see the difference. Look at the turnout
:03:03. > :03:07.of this election, where there are clear different characters at the
:03:08. > :03:10.top of each parties. On top of that, the overarching issue that everyone
:03:11. > :03:17.has a view on everyone was shocked by when the referendum came out on
:03:18. > :03:21.June the 23rd. And everyone feels like it's unfinished business and
:03:22. > :03:24.they want to have a say on it. You've got different political
:03:25. > :03:31.parties with different stances. The Tories going hard for pro Brexit.
:03:32. > :03:36.The Lib Dems are a party of Remain. You will see everyone may be
:03:37. > :03:40.crossing party lines to stop Brexit, maybe challenging what they thought
:03:41. > :03:44.they knew about politics. I think it will be an interesting debate. It
:03:45. > :03:48.won't be allowed to go on for too long. It will be tight and compact
:03:49. > :03:52.before the eighth of June. It will be a few weeks before the local
:03:53. > :03:57.elections. Would it have been possible to have them on the same
:03:58. > :04:05.day? I think there was a deadline for that. OK. Or they chose to miss
:04:06. > :04:10.it. It will be interesting to see... It will be interesting to see at the
:04:11. > :04:14.local elections how good of an indication it gives us for the
:04:15. > :04:18.general election. It is thought to be the case that Labour will lose
:04:19. > :04:29.lots of seats in the local elections. They are focusing on Tory
:04:30. > :04:33.areas. Maybe it didn't escape CCHQ. You write for Conservative Woman,
:04:34. > :04:42.the website. This suggestion was Theresa May is cautious, deliberate,
:04:43. > :04:47.thinks before she makes a decision. She said on several occasions this
:04:48. > :04:54.wasn't gonna happen. There would be no election before 2020. Knowing her
:04:55. > :04:59.and the Conservatives, are you surprised by the move? No one woke
:05:00. > :05:04.up this morning thinking, Theresa May is going to call an election on
:05:05. > :05:09.the steps of Downing Street at 11am today, so obviously there was an
:05:10. > :05:14.element of surprise to it. However, I genuinely think it is the right
:05:15. > :05:19.decision and it is in Britain's interest. In terms of motive and why
:05:20. > :05:24.she called it, yes, it's true, at the beginning she said, you know,
:05:25. > :05:29.I'm not going to the polls, the country needs clarity and stability
:05:30. > :05:33.and predictability. I think she underestimated the amount of
:05:34. > :05:40.opposition and antidemocratic feeling from the Remain team, who
:05:41. > :05:44.had already lost the referendum and clearly seemed to say, well, we're
:05:45. > :05:48.going to ignore it and try to scupper the deal as much as
:05:49. > :05:57.possible. That is including people from her own party, those I called
:05:58. > :06:01.the rebels without a clue. In terms of why, you have asked a question,
:06:02. > :06:08.why, you are allowed to change your mind. This isn't a soliloquy, we
:06:09. > :06:12.need Joe to come in on this! LAUGHTER the issue is she didn't
:06:13. > :06:17.know the opposition she would get from the House of Lords, the rebels
:06:18. > :06:26.without a clue, the Remainiacs. Laura! Elected politicians,
:06:27. > :06:29.democratically elected politicians, can give antidemocratic feeling
:06:30. > :06:35.despite doing their jobs as democratically elected... The
:06:36. > :06:41.referendum was a clear result. Your version of why she went for this was
:06:42. > :06:46.thoroughly on message - she's going to be very proud of it. You don't
:06:47. > :06:50.really know, Joe, more than I know. Normally the simplest answer is the
:06:51. > :06:54.right answer. In this case it became clear that she wasn't going to get
:06:55. > :06:59.exactly what she wanted to get. She might have had to compromise a
:07:00. > :07:03.little bit, God forbid. And, of course, over the tantalising polls,
:07:04. > :07:07.saying, you can do what you want, it'll be closer to the Royal
:07:08. > :07:12.prerogative powers you wanted to use to trigger Article 50 of the first
:07:13. > :07:15.place. I think what we see is Theresa May isn't someone who will
:07:16. > :07:22.stick to the principled position all the time. Like other politicians,
:07:23. > :07:27.she will be an opportunist when there is an opportunity to get
:07:28. > :07:31.political advantage. OK, I have just shooshed Laura, because I want the
:07:32. > :07:38.next paper, we are living that one, the Daily Telegraph, May's bolt from
:07:39. > :07:44.the blue. She wants to strengthen her hand, once she gets the
:07:45. > :07:50.legislation through parliament, she had a mandate, she had the strong
:07:51. > :07:55.hand she needed - she didn't need to do this. This is about her own
:07:56. > :07:58.party, isn't it, silencing people on the back who could make this
:07:59. > :08:03.difficult for her? The rebels without a clue who want to go
:08:04. > :08:07.against the will of the people, yes. If she wants a clear mandate, to get
:08:08. > :08:13.the best deal for Britain, she was right to go to the polls. She has a
:08:14. > :08:18.slim majority in Westminster, she doesn't have a very strong majority
:08:19. > :08:22.as she would want. And what it comes down to is how the negotiations are
:08:23. > :08:28.going to go with Brussels. This is the issue when it comes to what is
:08:29. > :08:32.in the national interest. When it comes to negotiations, appearance is
:08:33. > :08:37.everything. So, the stronger she looks when going into negotiations,
:08:38. > :08:41.going into those negotiations, the better it is for everybody else -
:08:42. > :08:45.the better it is for ordinary working families in Britain. From
:08:46. > :08:53.small negotiations to be deals, if the opposition know that you are
:08:54. > :08:58.coming from a position of strength, then you yourself will get a better
:08:59. > :09:03.deal. And I think she needs that mandate, she needs to go to Brussels
:09:04. > :09:07.said in my entire country is behind me and don't mess around with me,
:09:08. > :09:13.because I'm going to get the best deal I can. OK, Joe. It could work
:09:14. > :09:18.both ways for her. Look, she doesn't have a big majority. If she gets a
:09:19. > :09:21.majority, that will make it easy for her to pass legislation,
:09:22. > :09:26.theoretically. Going into negotiations in Brussels, how strong
:09:27. > :09:33.the hand is depends on who is elected to the seats, if she wins
:09:34. > :09:39.lots in the next election. If it is 100 Lauras elected, then they will
:09:40. > :09:46.be able to hold her hostage in those negotiations. I would wager that
:09:47. > :09:54.Theresa May isn't as hard a Brexiteer as some on her benches
:09:55. > :09:59.are, but if is push her, she will be held hostage in Brussels, which
:10:00. > :10:04.won't strengthen her hand. The Daily Mirror, the lady is for the U-turn.
:10:05. > :10:08.Can she be trusted, now the she says one thing one minute and something
:10:09. > :10:17.else the next? Are you serious? I am serious! She said a while ago - let
:10:18. > :10:23.me finish - the facts changed and so she changed her mind. The facts
:10:24. > :10:27.change in terms of how easy it would be to get this through and the House
:10:28. > :10:31.of Lords, so she changed her mind and she is entitled to do that. You
:10:32. > :10:34.cannot on the one hand say, oh, well, she doesn't have a personal
:10:35. > :10:37.mandate, she hasn't ever been elected personally, then on the
:10:38. > :10:41.other hand when she calls an election you say, oh, she is doing
:10:42. > :10:49.it for her interest. Do you trust her, Joe? I was being flippant.
:10:50. > :10:53.Look, she has definitely, I would suggest, put forward a very, very
:10:54. > :10:56.strong position for months and months and months and has quickly
:10:57. > :11:01.turned around on that. She has suggested it is a reluctant U-turn.
:11:02. > :11:06.There is an element of contingency to this. They were telling
:11:07. > :11:12.journalists that this would not happen while preparations were going
:11:13. > :11:16.on. You don't know that. They would have told me and other journalists.
:11:17. > :11:22.It might have been a very quick decision. We know that there were
:11:23. > :11:29.preparations. They were making preparations. They were doing
:11:30. > :11:37.preparations last month in autumn. This idea that she is walking in
:11:38. > :11:41.Wales, she had an epiphany that she would have an election, it doesn't
:11:42. > :11:49.really hold. It is the fresh air, man, it gets to all of us.
:11:50. > :11:57.She is a very clever politician. She is not there through luck. She is
:11:58. > :12:06.entitled to play a political tack. It is not her fault that Labour are
:12:07. > :12:12.rubbish. OK. All right. Let's get onto Labour. The Metro. The Brexit
:12:13. > :12:19.election, that is what is as saying it is all about. But that is not
:12:20. > :12:24.what Labour want. Because as Laura has indicated, they are a little bit
:12:25. > :12:28.all over the shop when it comes to Brexit. That goes back to Laura's
:12:29. > :12:32.point about labour being in a spot of trouble. Brexit is a key point in
:12:33. > :12:44.that. -- one. Kerry -- Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters
:12:45. > :12:48.wanted him to give full-fledged support to the remain campaign. And
:12:49. > :12:52.he could not bring himself to do it. Now they are not seen that they want
:12:53. > :12:56.to stop Brexit, but what the government to account for it. It is
:12:57. > :12:59.not clear which side they come down on. Emilie Fournel is said to me
:13:00. > :13:04.they had not picked a side on Brexit. So they are still sort of
:13:05. > :13:12.all over the place in terms of where they want to be. The Lib Dems are
:13:13. > :13:17.very pro- remain. They beat Zach Goldmans and they want to do it and
:13:18. > :13:21.overseas. -- Goldsmith. The Tories are taking a harder line. Part of
:13:22. > :13:25.the reason we are in this situation is because of UKIP will stop much as
:13:26. > :13:28.their campaigning, but also the threat that they pose to the
:13:29. > :13:36.Conservative Party. Laura, do you see them as a real threat now?
:13:37. > :13:40.Unending so. The parties are strong enough and I think Nigel Farage was
:13:41. > :13:47.such a big part of the UKIP brand. Without him, I think they will
:13:48. > :13:53.struggle. Especially as Brexit has been secured in terms of leaving the
:13:54. > :14:00.EU, how will look of courses be risen to the election in the first
:14:01. > :14:12.place. I think is a will be working hard to get some of those you get
:14:13. > :14:18.votes back. -- is the reason for. I did indeed do a U-turn, perhaps you
:14:19. > :14:21.could say. There is a lot to play for forgeries are made. I know the
:14:22. > :14:26.polls are saying she is way out ahead, but I think you should always
:14:27. > :14:30.triples cautiously. And it is not a matter of winning. It is a matter of
:14:31. > :14:34.getting a big majority to move forward. I think a lot of those UKIP
:14:35. > :14:38.votes will be up for grabs as long as she is clear on what her Brexit
:14:39. > :14:48.strategy will be. All right. The Daily Express. Both me and I will
:14:49. > :14:52.deliver EU exit. Theresa May smashing it once and for all. At
:14:53. > :14:58.some of that positions from her own backbenchers? Yes. Several papers
:14:59. > :15:01.have gone with this line of Theresa May crashing the rebels and her
:15:02. > :15:05.party. So we have a group in the Commons, a handful, with the small
:15:06. > :15:09.majority she has, you only need that much to make things difficult.
:15:10. > :15:15.People like Nicky Morgan, Neil Carmichael, comical green. These are
:15:16. > :15:20.very respected people in the Tory party and people who carry a lot of
:15:21. > :15:25.weight amongst the people who will remain Tories. -- Dominic Green.
:15:26. > :15:30.People who are liberal Tories or who do not necessarily trust is a not to
:15:31. > :15:34.be controlled by the right wing Brexiteer group. So she has
:15:35. > :15:38.specifically pointed at them. She is pointed to the Lib Dems and Labour
:15:39. > :15:42.as well as groups who want to scupper her vision of Brexit. She is
:15:43. > :15:47.now sticking her standard down and saying enough is enough. Laura,
:15:48. > :15:52.would you want to see a defined explanation of what Brexit is, what
:15:53. > :16:02.it means, Howard is going affect this country in the manifesto? --
:16:03. > :16:08.how it is. I think there should be. She has said you cannot set out a
:16:09. > :16:14.negotiating position before you head into negotiations. Obviously a
:16:15. > :16:17.certain extent that is true. But if she is going to the people and
:16:18. > :16:22.saying give me a mandate for Brexit, you do at least need to say, as
:16:23. > :16:27.Brexit has already been secured, what exactly you are voting for.
:16:28. > :16:31.Should she said as a hard Brexit? There is no such thing as a hard
:16:32. > :16:36.Brexit or soft Brexit. That is just lingo. Should she say that if we do
:16:37. > :16:42.not get the deal we want, we will leave the single market? Yes.
:16:43. > :16:46.Absolutely. And that he/she has to indicate that if we do not get a
:16:47. > :16:54.deal that is in Britain's interest, we are willing to walk away and fall
:16:55. > :17:04.back on WTO rules. Do you want that in the manifesto? Are you sure? If
:17:05. > :17:09.you are going... She is called the election for a reason. She cannot
:17:10. > :17:14.just go and hedge bets and be modelled about it. I'm not saying
:17:15. > :17:24.what she will do. But this is what I think she should do. -- has called.
:17:25. > :17:31.But will she put in there the promised to make immigration fall to
:17:32. > :17:34.less than 100,000, to be tens of thousands? That is sunning she do
:17:35. > :17:39.and has said is still an ambition of the government. It is something that
:17:40. > :17:45.everyone knows is a completely discredited target, even our own
:17:46. > :17:48.Brexiteer Tory ministers, Liam Fox, Boris Johnson, they will all against
:17:49. > :17:52.certain elements of it. They think student should be taken out of the
:17:53. > :17:55.targets. Then there is a lot of division across this particular
:17:56. > :18:00.point. And she is promised at up to this point. If that is not in there,
:18:01. > :18:05.I would direct every Brexit voting member of the public to say... And
:18:06. > :18:09.that includes you, Laura. I would be saying is this not the government
:18:10. > :18:18.are ditching a key policy? To make immigration fall to that level. No,
:18:19. > :18:23.the immigration level, let us be clear. Some people voted for Brexit
:18:24. > :18:27.for different reasons. That I will acknowledge. Mine was the democratic
:18:28. > :18:32.deficit. My thought was that you did not have too surrender so is power
:18:33. > :18:37.to Brussels. It was a broad coalition as many of these issues
:18:38. > :18:42.are. She is not obliged to name figures. The main issue with the
:18:43. > :18:45.immigration thing is that the immigration numbers and now dictated
:18:46. > :18:50.by Westminster. The immigration policy is dictated by Westminster,
:18:51. > :18:55.and not by Brussels. So she does not necessarily, and in fact this is a
:18:56. > :19:00.to get rid of it, because she does not know what businesses need. She
:19:01. > :19:04.does not know what the NHS needs. The beauty about leaving the
:19:05. > :19:14.European Union, now is that you choose your own immigration policy.
:19:15. > :19:18.-- European Union, now,. If she goes out and says immigration will be the
:19:19. > :19:22.same level, but we will be deciding it will be the same level, that a
:19:23. > :19:25.lot of Brexit voting members of the public will see that as a betrayal.
:19:26. > :19:33.Moving on, the Daily Mail, trust the saboteurs. -- crush. Yet some people
:19:34. > :19:39.are the Conservative Party who were trying to hold up the Democrat will
:19:40. > :19:46.of the people. The Democrat will of the people? That is the most
:19:47. > :19:56.overused phrase. -- democratic. They have a great picture that on the
:19:57. > :20:04.Daily Mail of that test their Bell -- death stare. If the majority is
:20:05. > :20:09.not big enough after the selection, if it does not really outstripped
:20:10. > :20:15.the 17 or so that she has now, then the Lords will still feel emboldened
:20:16. > :20:19.to add this to her legislation, called votes on things that she does
:20:20. > :20:24.not want votes called on. So there is still that potential to stymie
:20:25. > :20:32.her plans even after the election. Sure. On the front page of the Sun,
:20:33. > :20:39.the snap election will kill off Labour, according to Sun. Blue
:20:40. > :20:44.murder. She will smash rebel Tories. I should say that John Woodcock has
:20:45. > :20:50.said that he cannot endorse Jeremy Corbyn as the next promised. This is
:20:51. > :20:54.a labour MP. -- Labour. He says there is still time for Jeremy
:20:55. > :20:59.Corbyn to stand down as Labour leader before the general election.
:21:00. > :21:05.There must be serious panic now in Labour Heesh Q. They are all seeing
:21:06. > :21:11.that the Lib Dems are in a stronger position than they are. They don't
:21:12. > :21:18.know what their own position is. -- HQ. The Lib Dems are very happy with
:21:19. > :21:24.this and hope it will kill off Labour and the Tory rebels. I think
:21:25. > :21:30.that some say this is choice between Theresa May's vision for the country
:21:31. > :21:34.and Jeremy Corbyn's vision for the country. I will take that. I think
:21:35. > :21:46.that the majority of the British public would much prefer Theresa
:21:47. > :21:50.May's over Jeremy Corbyn, which would draw us into a socialist
:21:51. > :21:55.hellhole. Once you swim through the quagmire that is Brexit, what you
:21:56. > :22:03.have is a hard left leader wanting to lead a hard left party, who...
:22:04. > :22:09.Jeremy Corbyn is to let us and party! Let's not forget what is at
:22:10. > :22:13.stake here! Is Jeremy Corbyn was in charge of Britain, God knows what
:22:14. > :22:19.would happen. I want to come in at the end there and say Tony Blair was
:22:20. > :22:24.picked up in a few papers suggesting people should cross party lines, in
:22:25. > :22:28.his words, to vote to stop a hard Brexit. So there is maybe a message
:22:29. > :22:34.that labour voters that if you want to stop Brexit, other parties might
:22:35. > :22:42.be the way to go. -- Labour. Theresa May has fought an election landslide
:22:43. > :22:47.here in the Times. Laura, she doesn't want to take part in
:22:48. > :22:51.debates, though? If you are that far ahead, seemingly, what is the
:22:52. > :22:55.problem? I think she say she does not want to take part in debates
:22:56. > :22:58.because she was to get out on the ground and meet voters, meet people
:22:59. > :23:13.who... That is one way of looking at. I am not a big fan. -- at it.
:23:14. > :23:18.They are to presidential one we have general elections like this. I did
:23:19. > :23:22.was brought in by Tony Blair. It is egomaniacal. So they don't have a TV
:23:23. > :23:34.debate, IP she is entitled to say no. I personally do not like TV
:23:35. > :23:38.debates. -- I think she. Nevertheless, the fact that she is
:23:39. > :23:42.not willing to do it speaks to two points. One, that she does not feel
:23:43. > :23:50.that she would be up to it, or her team does not, and secondly, that...
:23:51. > :23:55.You've got it. Say it. OK, we will leader there. It has been
:23:56. > :24:01.-- it has been great speaking to you. Don't forget all the front
:24:02. > :24:05.pages online and on the website where you can read a detailed review
:24:06. > :24:07.of the paper seven days a week. Go to either player as well if you want
:24:08. > :24:21.to see a recording of all this. But Shalk rural frusemide. Watch out.
:24:22. > :24:24.Your plants could be looking like this across the southern half of the
:24:25. > :24:26.British Isles as we start the new