Britain’s Theresa May seeks a mandate

Apr 23, 2017 Editorial, Features / Columnists

General elections are not due in Britain until 2020, but on Tuesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May called a General election for June 8, 2017. It was a surprise announcement as she attempts to solidify her leadership position in order to negotiate Britain’s exit from the European
Union from a position of strength.
British General elections are held every five years under the Fixed Term Parliament Act which was enacted in 2011. Former Tory leader, David Cameron, won the 2015 election. However, the majority party can seek to call early or what is known as “snap” elections, should it choose. The House of Commons is expected to approve May’s plan for a snap election.
The Prime Minister has stated that Britain needs certainty, stability and strong leadership and those can only be guaranteed by a strong mandate from the people. Currently, the Conservative Party has a small majority in the 650 seat Parliament, but recent polls show that it has a commanding lead over the Labor Party and will be elected with a substantial majority as it begins the arduous task of negotiating Brexit. So, it is a sensible move by May to call the elections now.
Prime Minister May realized that she was not elected but was elevated to the position of the leader of the Conservative Party and became the Prime Minister of Britain during the turbulent days of June 2016, after her predecessor David Cameron resigned following his defeat in the Brexit referendum by 52 percent.
As such, May felt that it would be difficult for her to push through Britain exit from Europe¯the biggest political shift in British national identity in decades, without a political mandate.
Winning the election would not only solidify her position as leader of the Conservative Party, but would also allow her to claim that the public has backed her plan to extract Britain from the European Union.
The Labour Party which is the traditional rival of the Conservative Party is currently in disarray due to its leader, Jeremy Corbyn’s, contentious and left-wing policies, most of which are not even supported by a majority of his own MPs.
Theresa May has no democratic mandate and her popularity of over 50 percent is unusually high, if not unprecedented in recent times. By calling a snap election, May hopes to take advantage of the Labour Party’s crisis and increase the number of her party’s seats in Parliament, thus giving her more room to push through her own policy agenda as well, including education reform.
Article 50 of the European Union Act gives Britain exactly two years to withdraw, but two years may not be enough time to complete the negotiation which is enormous in scope and extremely complex. The possibility exists that Britain could leave the EU before the negotiations are completed and the talks could continue for several more years. There is also the possibility that the two sides may not be able to reach agreement, which could involve risks of serious economic damage to the EU but more so to Britain.
Brexit has taken a toll on the British economy. Many banks and financial institutions in the world’s premier financial centre, London, have already made plans to scale down their operations and relocate to Frankfurt, Paris and Ireland. Job losses are estimated to be as high as 30,000.
Meanwhile, there has been a significant depreciation of the sterling and an increase in the cost of living. However, those who advocated for Britain to leave Europe are convinced that the gains will outweigh the losses. The gains seem to be those which constitute intangible objectives of national pride and the losses are tangible quantifiable losses.
Hopefully, with time, Britain will recover and achieve the hopes borne by those who voted for it to exit the EU.
Whatever happens, the road ahead could be long and arduous for both sides.

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