Live: Theresa May calls snap General Election for June 8
Here’s the highlights of what Theresa May had to say in her Downing Street speech.
And unelected members of the House of Lords have vowed to fight us every step of the way.
The Scottish National Party say they will vote against the legislation that formally repeals Britain’s membership of the European Union.
The Liberal Democrats have said they want to grind the business of government to a standsill.
In recent weeks Labour has threatened to vote against the deal we reach with the European Union.
The country is coming together, but Westminster is not.
At this moment of enormous national significance there should be unity here in Westminster, but instead there is division.
Because what they are doing jeopardises the work we must do to prepare for Brexit at home and it weakens the Government’s negotiating position in Europe.
If we do not hold a general election now their political game-playing will continue, and the negotiations with the European Union will reach their most difficult stage in the run-up to the next scheduled election.
Division in Westminster will risk our ability to make a success of Brexit and it will cause damaging uncertainty and instability to the country.
So we need a general election and we need one now, because we have at this moment a one-off chance to get this done while the European Union agrees its negotiating position and before the detailed talks begin.
I have only recently and reluctantly come to this conclusion.
Since I became Prime Minister I have said that there should be no election until 2020, but now I have concluded that the only way to guarantee certainty and stability for the years ahead is to hold this election and seek your support for the decisions I must take.
And so tomorrow I will move a motion in the House of Commons calling for a general election to be held on the eighth of June.
That motion, as set out by the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, will require a two-thirds majority of the House of Commons.
So I have a simple challenge to the opposition parties, you have criticised the Government’s vision for Brexit, you have challenged our objectives, you have threatened to block the legislation we put before Parliament.