UK Parliament approves Prime Minister’s early election call

World Today

The British Parliament approved a snap general election on Wednesday, even though general elections weren’t due for another three years. The U.K. Prime Minister, Theresa May, said the vote will strengthen her hand in talks with the European Union ahead of Brexit.

CGTN’s Richard Bestic reports from London.

An enhanced Parliamentary majority would also make it harder, she said, for those trying to frustrate her Brexit strategy.

“That’s why it’s the right and responsible thing for all of us here today to vote for a general election- to make our respective cases to the country and then respect the result and the mandate it provides to give Britain the strongest possible hand in the negotiations to come,” May said.

Another general election in the U.K. wasn’t scheduled until 2020, hence the need for a Parliamentary vote.

For voters in Britain, this snap election will be the third time they’ve been to the polls in three years. On the streets of the capital, there are signs of voter fatigue. Inside Parliament, opposition members of the House accused the Prime Minister of political opportunism.

But May won the day with a commanding majority. Just as Britain thought it was tuning up for two years of tricky talks with the European Union, the country now finds itself in the middle of a full blown general election, coming up on June 8.