UK election talk builds ahead of surprise statement from May

Prime minister Theresa May has announced a snap general election in a statement outside Downing Street so she can win a direct mandate to take the country through the Brexit divorce with the European Union.

She said parliament would be asked to vote Wednesday to decide on whether or not to hold an election.

"I have just chaired a meeting of the cabinet where we agreed that the government should call a General Election to be held on the 8th of June", May said.

"What they are doing jeopardizes the work we must do to prepare for Brexit at home, and it weakens the government's negotiating position in Europe", May added.

The move takes place against the backdrop of the country's decision to leave the European Union in last year's referendum. "They are wrong", she said.

Without a snap general election, Mrs May said "political game-playing" in Westminster would continue and lead to negotiations with the European Union reaching their "most hard stage" in the run-up to the previously scheduled 2020 vote.

A general election would end the attempts of opposition parties and members of the House of Lords to thwart her Brexit plans.

British Prime Minister Theresa May attends the Sovereign's Parade at Britain's Royal Military Academy Sandhurst last week. "Let everybody put forward their proposals for Brexit and their programs 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".

But the law can be overruled if two-thirds of lawmakers in the British parliament vote in favour of early elections - and main opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Tuesday he would back May's call. But she said Tuesday she had "reluctantly" changed her mind.

Her ruling Conservative Party have opened up a 21-point lead over the Labour Party, according to the YouGov pollster this week.