William Hague urges Theresa May to call snap election for Brexit battle

Election call: Theresa May is facing pressure to hold a snap vote
REUTERS
Tom Powell7 March 2017
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Former Tory leader William Hague has urged the Prime Minister to call an early general election to avoid further parliamentary stand-offs over Brexit.

The peer called on Theresa May to repeal the Fixed Term Parliaments Act – which effectively prevents another election being held until 2020.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Lord Hague said "it is time to question whether a fixed parliamentary term is in the interests of the country as we withdraw from the European Union".

He said there was "no doubt" Mrs May would have a better chance of making Brexit a success with a "decisive" majority in the Commons, warning her that different factions in Parliament will inevitably find parts of the exit deal "difficult to stomach".

Election call: William Hague
Dan Kitwood / Getty

Lord Hague, the most senior Tory figure to publicly call for an early election, went on: "We have a new Prime Minister and Cabinet facing the most complex challenges of modern times: Brexit negotiations, the Trump administration, the threat from Scottish nationalists, and many other issues.

"There is no doubt that they would be in a stronger position to take the country through these challenges successfully if they had a large and decisive majority in the Commons and a new full term ahead of them."

Ahead of the expected clash between peers and the Government over Parliament's role in approving the final Brexit deal, Lord Hague added: "Any deal is bound to be full of compromises which one group or another in Parliament finds difficult to stomach.

"As British law needs to be amended countless times to take account of leaving the EU treaties, the Government could face many close votes, concessions or defeats as it tries to implement Brexit.

"That prospect will embolden the EU negotiators, and makes an agreement that is good for the UK harder to achieve.

"It could also lead to a situation where the Prime Minister faces a stand-off with Parliament over a deal that will have taken two years to negotiate and is nearly impossible to change."

Lord Hague’s call for an election came after polls suggested support for Jeremy Corbyn among Labour party members has crashed over the past 12 months.

More than half of respondents said he should step down before the next general election.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in