Chamber reaction to call for snap election
Theresa May has announced her intention to call a snap General Election for 8 June.
MPs in the House of Commons will be asked tomorrow to vote in favour of the election. Under the Fixed Term Parliament Act, it will take a two-thirds majority to make the election possible.
Mrs May has said that her U-turn from her previous position that she wouldn’t call an early General Election was intended to prevent the uncertainty of an election in 2020 interfering with crucial stages of Brexit negotiations.
Scott Knowles, Chief Executive at East Midlands Chamber, said immediately after Mrs May’s announcement outside Number 10:-
“As a general rule, business doesn’t like elections because they create instability, and this one appears to be creating uncertainty in already uncertain times.
“It could be damaging to the UK economy at a time when business had appeared to have conquered the initial fears over Brexit and coped with the fall in the value of Sterling resulting from the ‘Leave’ vote. Our latest Quarterly Economic Survey has shown that business has been doing better since the EU Referendum than anyone predicted.
“What is really important now is that all Parties clearly articulate what they stand for, without any of the bombast or rhetoric of recent ballots, and to show they are considering much more than just Brexit. There are a multitude of domestic issues that need to be managed and we would call on all candidates to make clear to business what their plans are for strengthening the economy now, during Brexit negotiations and post-Brexit.”
