Watch live: Theresa May announces snap general election in Downing Street statement
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Theresa May has announced there will be a snap general election on June 8.
The Prime Minister gave a statement outside Downing Street this morning.
She had previously insisted she would not call an election ahead of the planned 2020 poll, but declared the vote was needed for stability.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is set to make a statement this afternoon on Syria and North Korea.
Pundits have been speculating on the subject of her statement on Twitter:
And the pound took a sharp lurch downward in the wake of the statement being announced.
Is Theresa May about to call an election?
Technically, Theresa May can call an election, despite parliaments now having a fixed term of five years.
But to do so she would have to either repeal the Fixed-term Parliaments act, call a vote of no-confidence in her own government (requiring a simple 50%+1 majority in the House of Commons) or she could call an early election if 2/3 of MPs agreed to back the call.
She'll make her statement at 11.15am - we'll have the whole thing as it happens.