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Royal Holloway’s Independent Student Newspaper
VOLUME VIII, ISSUE VI • FRIDAY, 28 APRIL 2017 • Royal Holloway, University of London • Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX
MPs back May’s Election Call DANIEL BRADY CO-EDITOR
Campaigning has begun after the House of Lords backed Prime Minister Theresa May’s call for a General Election on the 8th of June. Last week, MPs voted by 522 votes to 13 in favour, whilst Labour and Lib Dem helped to secure the two-thirds majority needed to bring forward the election from 2020. The move comes after May triggered Article 50 at the end of March, starting Britain’s process of leaving the EU following last year’s referendum. May recently urged voters to give her ‘the mandate to speak for Britain and to deliver for Britain’. Labour opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said a Labour government would stop Mrs May from using Brexit to make the UK an ‘offshore tax haven’. Corbyn also stated that the case for renewing Trident was still being discussed, however, a Labour spokesman said it remained official policy to keep the de-
terrent. Speaking at his first campaign stop in Croydon, Corbyn stated he would raise the minimum wage to £10 an hour and increase spending on the NHS, social care and council housing. He also confirmed there would not be a coalition deal between his party and the SNP. The prime minister is hoping to significantly boost her current Commons majority of 17 to increase her authority, ahead of 18 months of talks which will determine the manner of the UK's exit from the EU. Mrs May, who became PM last July after the EU referendum, told MPs that it would wrong for the UK to find itself reaching the most ‘difficult and sensitive’ phase of Brexit negotiations in late 2018 and early 2019 at a time when a general election was ‘looming on the horizon’. During a special Commons debate, she said it was the ‘right and responsible’ thing to do hold the election now
Photo via https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/sa-may/news.
to help the UK prepare for life outside the EU. Responses to the announcement on social media have been varied, with many criticising May’s decisions to not take part in TV Leadership Debates. An online petition for her to partake
in debates has been signed by more than 100,000 people. In other election developments, George Osborne has made the decision to quit as an MP and focus on his role as Editor of the Evening Standard. It has also emerged that
UKIP's manifesto will include proposals to ban full veils, whilst Green MEP Molly Scott Cato stated her party would consider ‘higher taxes for the better off ’ to increase NHS funding and roll back cuts to local council spending.
RHUL Performs, p. 3
Lemon Drizzle, p. 11 Vegan Ventures, p. 13
Index News..............................................................................1 Opinion And Debate......................................................6 Lifestyle...........................................................................9 Features........................................................................12 Arts...............................................................................14 Arts: Film......................................................................16 Arts: Music....................................................................19 Sports...........................................................................22
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