evening saided to me this evening that he thought the chances of a good brexit dealfor both sides thought the chances of a good brexit deal for both sides had thought the chances of a good brexit dealfor both sides had gone up enormously hi said if theresa may win as resounding victory at the poll that triumph would be heard and not those of who he called his hardline brexiteers. the eu would get a strong reliable negotiating partner. he said. he believed that would be good for both partners in the negotiation. there are thoughts this could speed up the process so there could be talks about a future uk-eu there could be talks about a future uk—eu trade relationship far earlier than imagined if talks go well. as soon, i've been told, as the end of september after the german elections. again, if all goes smoothly. let's get some final thoughts on today's announcement, laura kuenssberg is with me. where do you think this election is likely to be won or lost? in any campaign it is hard to predict what

will bubble up. it will be about policy, personalities for the party leaders, and also about the parties themselves. more than anything else, it will feel different in different parts of the country but it will feel like an election all about brexit. because theresa may herself has made it so. she has directly, in a way that leaders have not done for some time, directly ask the british people for a mandate to get thatjob done. very specifically, very clearly. and even though there will be other things that she and the other political parties want to talk about, i think it is hard to see yet not being a main theme of what actually happens in the next seven weeks or so. there is a real irony here because one of the reasons theresa may did not want to have an early election is because she wanted to get brexit done and dusted before actually having the next vote for the whole country. but it appears talking to ministers as the complicity of that has become real, it has been hurt adulation that the

canniest move has been to do this and do it now and get it out of the way, with the hope that she ends up with a bigger majority and life becomes much easier. we know today, from today, that theresa may has been very, very good at keeping secrets, but we do not know whether oi’ secrets, but we do not know whether or not her talents extend to winning elections. laura, thank you very much. theresa may made her surprise announcement today in glorious sunshine. let's see what the weather is like today for the rest of the country. here's tomasz schafernaker. beautiful weather for most of the country here's tomasz schafernaker. beautiful weather for most of the country today here's tomasz schafernaker. beautiful weather for most of the country today but here's tomasz schafernaker. beautiful weather for most of the country today but it here's tomasz schafernaker. beautiful weather for most of the country today but it is here's tomasz schafernaker. beautiful weather for most of the country today but it is going here's tomasz schafernaker. beautiful weather for most of the country today but it is going to turn chilly across some parts of the uk with frost on the way. the skies clear across england and wales at least early in the day. the cloud has been increasing over the course of this evening as a result of moisture coming from the atlantic. we have had spots of rain across the western isles. not so frosty here, unlike last night, when it was

really cold. the coldest weather will now be across the south, —3 or minus four degrees outside the city centre, which could be damaging for tender plants. we will wake up to a crisp, sunny start across many southern areas. the cloud will tends to increase a little bit but it should be a dry day for many of us. a decent day across eastern parts of scotla nd a decent day across eastern parts of scotland as well. high pressure with us scotland as well. high pressure with us during the course of thursday, particularly across the southern half of the uk. in the morning, a little on the cloudy side. misty and rocky but in the afternoon, it will be better. temperatures up on thursday. 15 in london, and it might even get up to 15 or more across eastern parts of scotland given a little bit of sunshine. we do have a weather front expected to cross the country during the course of friday and that will introduce colder air from the north. that is a hint of fresh weather coming our way towards the weekend. by the time we get to

saturday, i think it will be a little cooler. overall, a lot of dry weather around. back to ten downing st. a reminder of our story, dominating oui’ a reminder of our story, dominating our bulletin today. theresa may has taken our bulletin today. theresa may has ta ken politicians are our bulletin today. theresa may has taken politicians are important to us taken politicians are important to us by surprise, calling for a general election to be held onjune eight. and that is all from us today. on bbc one, wejoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. bye—bye. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines. the prime minister is seeking a snap general election — to be held on the 8th ofjune. theresa may said she wants to go to the country now because divisions in parliament risk hindering brexit negotiations. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn said he welcomed the announcement —

as a chance to fight for social justice. scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, called it a huge political miscalculation. while the lib dem leader, tim farron, said his party would fight to avoid a hard brexit. mrs may has been telling conservative backbenchers why she wants an election. there will be a vote in the house of commons tomorrow to approve the ballot. the prime minister has announced plans to call a snap general election onjune the 8th. mrs may stunned westminster as she had previously insisted there would be no election until 2020. defending the u—turn, mrs may said she had reluctantly come to the conclusion that a vote was necessary, adding "the country is coming together but westminster is not." at this moment of enormous national

significance there should be unity in westminster but instead there is division. the country is coming together but westminster is not. in recent weeks the labour party have threatened to vote against the final agreement will reach with the european union. the liberal democrats have said they want to grind the business of government to a standstill. the scottish national party said they will vote against the legislation that formally repealed britain's membership of the european union. and elected members of the house of lords have vowed to fight us every step of the way. our opponents believe because the government majority is so small that resource will weaken and they can force us to change course. they are wrong. labour's jeremy corbyn

welcomed the announcement and explained how labour was aiming to win the election. we're saying invest in the economy, invest in the future. we will put forward a case that will bring about a much fairer, much more decent country than we are getting at the present time where we have massive inequalities between the very rich minority and sadly too many people living in desperate poverty at the other end of the scale. let's cross to our political correspondent, eleanor garnier at westminster. everyone can digest this shock news now. is there a sense on the tory benches that this is the right thing to do? whether or not isn't the right thing to do it is definitely

happening and westminster was taken by surprise not least because the prime minister had been consistently playing down any chance of general election. so we know it is happening onjune election. so we know it is happening on june yates and election. so we know it is happening onjune yates and right across the commons mps are now either going to be getting ready to fight elections in their own constituencies or some considering whether or not they are going to stand at all. we already know that two labour mps are not going to be standing in the general election. to talk more about this is tim shipman of the sunday times and jack blanchard from the daily mirror. how much of a shock was this and why has she decided to go for it? sort of a shock but not a surprise. about a month ago there was a bit of mood music that they we re was a bit of mood music that they were thinking about holding an election. but then they said they we re election. but then they said they were absolutely not going to do that. add at that point everyone slightly lost interest in the story.

there were no of his preparations going on. and so everyone thought this is not going to happen for a while. what has tipped over the edge? well she has a lead of 22 points in the opinion polls. she watched david cameron botch a european wii negotiation and she's trying to go about her deal with brussels in the opposite way to what he did, keeping things secret, threatening to walk away, asking for everything rather than lowballing the offer. and she back at gordon brown who failed to hold a general election and thought that is not going to happen to me. and how do the labour party fight this election, many mps are not in favour ofjeremy corbyn so do we expect a very local campaign?” ofjeremy corbyn so do we expect a very local campaign? i think that is true, you will not see a great deal ofjeremy true, you will not see a great deal of jeremy corbyn true, you will not see a great deal ofjeremy corbyn on many of the leaflets. but they fight for their lives. many labour mps i spoke to today know that they could lose

their jobs today know that they could lose theirjobs and if you look at the opinion polls and how far labour party appear to be, they stand to lose many seats. so the labour mps are out there fighting i think a local campaign is exactly how they will do it. the ones in the remaining seats might find it easier than those in the probe brexit seats. but yes, i have to tell you not many labour mps were happy today. one party that wanted this was the liberal democrats. the party going out they're being the pro—labour party as a poster of all the other brexiteers. how much could they capitalise from this? they have nine seats so the only way is up. most people in the party i think would hope to get to 20 or more, the middling range they had in the late 19805 middling range they had in the late 1980s and early 1990s. but some people will be dreaming that if the labourcampaign people will be dreaming that if the labour campaign implodes and jeremy

corbyn is exposed as as bad as they hope he is, it is possible that they could do better than that. and in university towns and some inner cities they will be taking seats from the labour party and perhaps some from the tories as well in the south of england. theresa may said she wanted stability, obviously she also wants to increase majority. how much of a chance issue taken on this, is it certain that she will come back with a greatly increased majority? not certain at all. with seven weeks to go we know elections can be very unpredictable. just look at the last few years. of course it isa gamble at the last few years. of course it is a gamble but she's had a long look at the opinion polls and the lead appears to be so big and on all the key measures we normally judge by, leadership, strength of

the economy, she's miles out in front or appears to be so. so she's feeling confident. but i would say we do not know how the lib dem factor will play, they will be fighting very hard. although another eu referendum might not be appealing to many a lot of remain voters would go for that. also labour have seven weeks to try to improve their position and maybe they can do that. if soi position and maybe they can do that. if so i guess nothing is a foregone conclusion. theresa may made it clear this would be a brexit general election. how will that play out across the country, we have heard people saying today not another political event. this will be the fourth year in a row with a major political event. how do you think that argument is going to play out? i think some will be persuaded by it and theresa may can win certain areas and pick up votes from ukip vote rs areas and pick up votes from ukip voters in east anglia and ethics and places like that. because those people want the kind of brexit she's offering. i think she will have to broaden that appeal not least because we are all going to be bored of seven weeks of this if we are just talking about brexit. but if she's to win labour votes in other

parts of the country she to show the mantra she had on the steps of downing street when she was first in the job, helping the less well off, she needs to broaden the tory appeal and show she has policies beyond brexit. not long ago we were talking about counting down until the day of brexit, the moment we would be leaving the eu. we are now counting down until the general election. thank you. let's speak to the conservative mp and former northern ireland secretary, theresa villiers who is in our studios in westminster. is this a sensible move or is it pure naked opportunism?” is this a sensible move or is it pure naked opportunism? i believe it isa pure naked opportunism? i believe it is a sensible move. we need a strong and stable government and not only to make a success of the brexit process but to carry through all the other reforms promised wants to make

to ensure this is a country that works for everyone. and i think sticking a stronger mandate from british people is a good way forward on that. it is not simply an attempt to stymie those in her own party who feel that perhaps a hard brexit is not the kind of thing that should be going on? actually there is a widespread agreement within the conservative party that we need to make brexit a success. even from my collea g u es make brexit a success. even from my colleagues who are passionately and strongly in favour of remaining in the eu. and i think bob brexit will just be one issue in the general election, one of the reasons why both leave and remain supporters should support theresa may as the future of the minister is because she is the only figure capable of making a success of the brexit process. she is head and shoulders above her rivals. the idea of a prime ministerjeremy corbyn just is not, he's not a credible candidate

in comparison to theresa may. but she