May's announcement Tuesday in London came as a surprise.
In a BBC video widely shared on social media, a woman called Brenda told her interviewer in Bristol when asked about the election: "Not another one! Drawn-out uncertainty does the political and economic relationship between Europe and Britain no good", said German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel.
Polls give May's Conservatives a double-digit lead over Labour, which could have its worst election showing in decades. However, she decided it was necessary to win support for her governing Conservative Party's efforts to press ahead with the UK's departure from the EU.
Parliament will vote at about 2pm on whether to call an election for June 8.
Still, currency markets welcomed May's announcement as a harbinger of greater stability. By midday trading in London, it was trading 0.7 percent higher at $1.2658.
There will be a House of Commons vote on the proposed election today and May will need the Parliament's backing to hold a vote before 2020.
"I welcome the prime minister's decision to give the British people the chance to vote for a government that will put the interests of the majority first". "We will be out there fighting for every vote, whereas (Mr Corbyn) would bankrupt our economy, weaken our defences and is simply not fit to lead".
Labour campaigned for Britain to remain in the European Union, but Corbyn says he will respect voters' decision to leave.
Mr Corbyn retorted: "We welcome the general election but this is a Prime Minister who promised there wouldn't be one, a Prime Minister who can not be trusted".
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The company's net profit margin has achieved the current level of -5.7 percent and possesses 77 percent gross margin. The stock as of last trading session moved 94.40% up from its 52 week low and was -3.91% behind its 52 week high.
"We need a general election and we need one now", May said in a dramatic announcement outside her Downing Street office that caught the whole country off-guard. "There can be no turning back", she said.
In response to that criticism, the then-ruling coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats passed the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act in 2011 to prevent future snap elections from being used as a political tool. Under current legislation, the next election was not scheduled to take place until 2020.
No wonder that several Labour members of Parliament said they were shocked by the snap election plans, fearing that the early vote will only benefit the prime minister.
Theresa May is to make a statement in Downing Street at 11.15am after Cabinet.
Corbyn and his party are performing badly in polls and the leader has struggled to galvanise support from his MPs.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a diplomat from an European Union member state said that May "is completely right to call these elections now" as she could benefit from a favourable political context.
The British pound has fallen amid mounting speculation that Prime Minister Theresa May is planning to call an early general election. "We have to think that this is going to affect day-to-day reality ... on the ground".
Britain's Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, above, speaks at a meeting about social care in Birmingham central England Tuesday April 18, 2017.
Ms Sturgeon also said her position on a second independence referendum was "clear, and will continue to be clear throughout this campaign".
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