The UK’s general election: Mandate for a softer Brexit or preparation for going over the cliff edge? EPC Commentary, 18 April 2017

Prime Minister Theresa May has called for a general election on 8 June, to strengthen her mandate. Under British electoral law she needs a two-thirds majority in Westminster, but the Labour Party already looks set to support this move. This general election will be seen as being under the auspices of Brexit, with the Prime Minister claiming that an early election is “necessary to secure the strong and stable leadership the country needs to see us through Brexit and beyond”. Indeed, she has called for the opposition parties to make their Brexit vision(s) the central issue of the elections: “Let us tomorrow vote for an election, let us put forward our plans for Brexit and our alternative programmes for government and then let the people decide.” But despite this strong linkage between domestic and European politics, it is far from clear what this will mean in terms of the Brexit process.