May is getting the broom out of the closet and sweeping away the trash. In terms of risks it has enormous potential to backfire, yet the equal potential to remove several problems:
- Jeremy Corbyn. Quite how he was re-elected as Labour leader is beyond my comprehension, but if there is a hammering of the Labour vote then it will just cause further instability within the party. Voters will see them as being unelectable, meaning the likelihood of winning the next election, let alone this one, becomes even greater for the Tories.
- Nicola Sturgeon. The timing of this is exceptionally interesting, as Sturgeon is getting serious noise north of the border from voters who are sick of hearing about referendums when they are failing the Scottish people on basic policy such as schools and the NHS. This provides an early opportunity to test the Scottish electorate and further reduce the SNP influence in Westminster. I fully expect a large number of the SNP MP's to lose their seats to a combination of the Tories and a much stronger Lib Dems who will recover from their disastrous coalition and the legacy of Nick Clegg.
- UKIP. Now that they have their wish they will be wiped out of existence.
However, it is high stakes poker of the most enormous variety; I don't for a second believe the polls, so she may end up with egg on her face, a bit like when Cameron called the referendum thinking there was no chance a leave vote would win. While the polls suggest an increased majority, I think it'll be a bit more interesting. I'll make an early call on it - I reckon we're in for another hung parliament. Tim Farron, now is your time to shine.