RealFin Capital Partners Snap Elections Any announcement made by the British Prime Ministers’, outside the historic black doors of no.10 Downing Street, is one that traditionally tends to rouse up a certain amount of public engagement interest. The Pound strengthened on the back of the incumbent British Prime Minister Theresa May’s rather bold proposal of a “Snap Election”. The pound rose to its highest level versus the US Dollar in more than 2 months after May made her announcement. While elections typically signal a period of uncertainty for the markets, a strengthened mandate for May in the longer term is likely to bring more stability to her plans as she’ll be less beholden to various interest groups when pushing through her Brexit strategy. Ultimately this will enable more “discretionary power,” come negotiating time.
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18 APRIL 2017 Theresa May calls for snap election.
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May’s occupancy of the Prime Minister position commenced on the 23 June 2016, as Great Britain went through a referendum, which saw then Prime Minister David Cameron resign. May’s next move has been designed to not only consolidate her legitimacy as Prime Minister, but to show that she has the ability to be a bold leader when called upon, in uniting a divided Conservative Party and gaining a majority in the House of Commons. The House of Commons clearly has the best interests of a united Britain at heart, heading into the negotiations with a resounding 522 votes in support of the early election, versus the meagre 22 who voted against. Early tracking polls show the Conservative Party being 21 points ahead of the trailing Labour Party, who are the official opposition. If the election is successful, May can fill the additional parliamentary seats with Conservative lawmakers, who are unequivocally behind the Brexit negotiation process. A positive result in the election would seemingly galvanise unity amongst the divided Brexit camps. The fact that the opposition’s identified front-runner Jeremy Corbyn along with the Labour Party, have come out to support an early election, can be interpreted as the opposition getting behind the idea of a united government. This will enable Britain to “get the job done” come Brexit negotiation time.