Voters will head to the polls on June 8 after the Prime Minister announced a snap general election in a speech made outside Number 10 this morning.

Theresa May said Britain needed strong leadership following the EU referendum, adding that the only way to "guarantee certainty and stability for the years ahead is to hold this election and seek your support for the decisions I must take".

Mrs May said that opposition from other parties over the Conservative government’s approach to Brexit had prompted her to call for an election.

Commenting on the decisions made so far in relation to Britain leaving the EU, she said “This is the right approach, and it is in the national interest. But the other political parties oppose it.”

She added: “At this moment of enormous national significance there should be unity here in Westminster, but instead there is division.

“The country is coming together, but Westminster is not.”

The introduction of the Fixed Term Parliament Act by former Prime Minister David Cameron means that UK parliaments last for five years. As a result, the next general election was not scheduled to happen until 2020.

However, the Prime Minister can call an election early if she gets the agreement of two-thirds of MPs in the House of Commons.

May only has a small minority as the governing party, but Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has previously indicated he would support the vote.