sally is here to go through some of oui’ sally is here to go through some of our front sally is here to go through some of ourfront pages. we begin with the telegraph, who's headline expresses the surprise felt in some quarters over uk prime minister theresa may's sudden announcement of an early general election. next we have the left—leaning daily mirror calling out mrs may for making a spectacular general election u—turn after insisting there would be no new poll until 2020. lots of international papers also reporting on the election, including the irish times, which says a strong poll result would strengthen the prime minister's hand in talks with the eu over brexit. the scotsman says that scots are poised for a de facto ballot on demands for a second independence referendum in light of the shock announcement of a general election. the independent business section looks at the effect on the economy

reporting the ftse 100 suffered its worst day since last june after mrs may called for the snap poll. but the business telegraph has a more positive stance writing that the resilience of the uk economy had given the prime minister the confidence to seek parliamentary approval for the election. joining us is politicaljournalist james millar who writes for the new statesman, total politics and the international business times, among others. a busy man! thank you for coming in. starting with the telegraph and the issue of timing, this is all about timing. including when the election would have been at theresa may not called a snap election? yes, i mean, the obvious place to start with timing is 1115 yesterday morning when she made the announcement. i've

never seen when she made the announcement. i've never seen anything like it as an actual surprise in westminster. this is not something that has been done, certainly not since the tony blair yea rs. certainly not since the tony blair years. there were rumours and whispers, nothing about this at all however until ten o'clock yesterday, thatis however until ten o'clock yesterday, that is really something. then everybody went crazy. it is going to be an election, - obvious place be an election, the obvious place for papers to start is the shock. you can tell they are shocked, they don't even have election low goes. there is no planning for an election. nobody has done any planning. so, there is that. the timing, it is, there is a window. it makes sense when you think about it. now that's used on it. as you say, the election was going to be 2020, thenit the election was going to be 2020, then it was pushed back to 2021 or 2022. that will be once brexit is com pletely 2022. that will be once brexit is completely done. have you must have been about is —— been that the next

election, she was worried about having to go to a campaign while worrying about the final elements of the brexit negotiations, which potentially could have weakened her hand? exactly. there was some concern that the european negotiations might drink is out, that she would be distracted and so on. “— that she would be distracted and so on. —— string it out. they need a strong british government to negotiate with. it is funny, because when i heard about this, i work very bizarre hours so i had a little nap around that time. i woke up after napping at 11am to this news, which is shocking. i looked at opinion polls last week and i thought to myself, they are strongly in favour

of theresa may right now and the conservative party. i thought to myself, she may think it is a good time to get her own political mandate, to be an elected prime minister. that has definitely fed into her thinking. we should not trust polls after the last few referendums and all the rest of it, but, clearly... a 20 point lead. what about the issue that the mirror picks up on, that this is an enormous u—turn? she did say several times that she would not do this. is it damaging? it will be interesting to see whether it is. the fact that she didn't tell anyone, the way she has done it feeds into this idea that she is a grown up doing grown—up politics. it is a massive u—turn, but the way she is presenting it is that she has relu cta ntly presenting it is that she has reluctantly had to make this u—turn because it is best for the brexit negotiations and for the country. it is interesting, the mirror, one of

the few left—leaning papers in the uk. there is quite a lot of responsibility on their shoulders, if you lack, because the right—wing press, they will have a very clear run. very few prime ministers will be going into an election with such a clear run in terms of the media and press. so, the mirror is one of the few and perhaps the only paper who is criticising this decision from any angle. looking at the international coverage, the irish times. it picks up on this point, in the best case scenario for theresa may, she would then be going to brexit negotiations with a stronger mandate and be able to potentially extra ct a mandate and be able to potentially extract a better deal for britain, thatis extract a better deal for britain, that is what is expected? that is the feeling, it is slightly bizarre because everyone has accepted she is going to win. many people say the

result is certain, elections bring uncertainty, but there is a feeling that the result of this is certain. elections don't always play out like that, but if it does, then yes, she has got a stronger hand. she doesn't have to worry about the mathematics in parliament, and she can go to the table, people on the other side of the table know that when she says something she will deliver it. the irish times also says that this puts the brexit at the heart of the uk election, and in scotland they look at what this means for the hopes of some in scotland for another referendum of independence in the near future. to what extent will other issues be a part of this election, such as the nhs? to what extent will that be a part of the conversation, do you think?m extent will that be a part of the conversation, do you think? it is going to be fascinating to find out.

as you said, the brexit papers, this is going to be a brexit election. labour do not want that, partly because they are all over the place on the matter. the lib dems would be happy for it to be a brexit election, because they would see themselves as the remain party. but it is moving the argument onto other arenas such as the nhs and the education system... as ever, the westminster press is kind of ignoring completely, but beginning to wa ke ignoring completely, but beginning to wake up to the fact that in scotland, it is notjust a brexit referendum, it is going to be an independence referendum. nicola sturgeon was another referendum. it is going to be incredibly difficult to tell what the result in scotland will mean for independence, if, as

is possible, the snp get a clean sweep. those in scotland might wonder, what am i voting for? obviously a general election is a general collection, but they may be thinking, ami general collection, but they may be thinking, am i voting for one thing here, but it is really linked to another thing? the scottish electorate have had to get terribly sophisticated in recent years as they have had so much to vote on. the first part of the vote is actually going to make it more, located, conservatives could get a massive boost in terms of votes in scotla nd massive boost in terms of votes in scotland but still get very few mps. does quickly, this article in the independent, the pound strengthened significantly and abdel fattah el—sisi companies also strengthened, but that will not necessarily result in better... what is the view that this is bad news? —— and ftseioo

companies. it has been interesting, some papers say everything is terrible and the economy is going down the toilet, but you get two points of view, both of which are factually correct but it depends which point of view you are coming from as to which point of view might appeal. thank you very much for offering your opinion on that. we will be mulling over these issues a lot in the coming weeks, weeks and days. not even months. that's it from us for now. see you soon. hello. spring, thus far, has been marked by pretty settled fare. and i suspect that is going to be the overriding theme of the next few days, with a quiet spell of weather set to continue. not just for the next few days, but right on into the forthcoming

weekend. but gardeners and growers take note: night—time frost will still be a consideration. not so much for the first part of wednesday, across the northern parts of scotland, you've got a weather front there spreading a veil of cloud. that will keep the temperatures up. but further south, not so much in the major conurbations, but in the suburbs, and in the countryside, the early part of wednesday could see frost. —3 or perhaps even “i! or so. but once the sun is up, that converts intto a glorious start of the new day. plenty of sunshine across the southern parts of england and wales, through midlands and lincolnshire and cambridgeshire. but further north and west of that, the cloud thickens up into the borders, to northern ireland and the eastern side of scotland, and there will be enough cloud for a little bit of rain. a drier prospect, although still pretty cloudy first up across the rest of scotland. as the day really gets going, i am hopeful that some of that cloud will break up. a good bit of sunshine across scotland. some of that rain will drift off into the north channel, away from northern ireland. so a dry afternoon for many here.

further south and east, brighter skies will boost the damage to about 13 or 11! degrees. from wednesday to thursday, any prospect of frost is largely confined to the south—eastern quarter. the high pressure really doing its stuff for the greater part of us. yet more dry weather to come for many. save for the northern and western isles, maybe the north of the mainland, too. a weather front here just keeping that cloud coming in from the atlantic. and enough about it again for there to be the prospect of some rain. again, not amounting to much. the temperatures are where we have been of late. somewhere locked into the low to mid teens. friday is marked by a progression of the weather front and across scotland into the north of england, through northern ireland. to the south of it, with a bit of sunshine, we can boost the temperatures nicely. possibly 17 degrees. to the north of the weather feature, a cooler and fresher regime sets in and eventually wins out.

the front will reintroduce the regime down across the rest of the british isles. the high pressure, neverfar away, that keeps things fairly settled. your scene could look something akin to that. all that combination, the temperature never better than about 13 degrees, perfect conditions, i would have thought, for those taking part in the london marathon. hello — this is breakfast, with dan walker and louise minchin. mps have their say — parliament will vote today on theresa may's decision to hold a snap election. the prime minister says her plans for a vote in just seven weeks would secure the backing of the british people for the brexit negotiations. the only way to guarantee certainty and stability that the years to head —— years ahead is to hold the selection and seek your support for the decisions i must take. we'll be live in westminster throughout the morning to get the latest political reaction, and we'll be hearing your views too. i'm in leicester where i'll be finding out what voters make of a second election just two years

after the last one and what issues they'll be voting on. good morning.