THE country could go to the polls again in just seven weeks if MPs support Theresa May's calls for a snap general election.

The Prime Minister will require the support of two-thirds of MPs to go ahead with an election on June 8, with a vote scheduled to take place in the Commons today.

Mrs May announced the decision yesterday, claiming that divisions at Westminster risked hampering the Brexit negotiations.

The move stunned Westminster, as Mrs May and Number 10 have repeatedly insisted she would not seek a general election before the scheduled 2020 poll.

But despite initial surprise the announcement was welcomed locally by Dorset MPs and members of the opposition parties.

Borough of Poole councillor Vikki Slade said she would be putting her hat back in the ring for the hotly contested seat in Mid Dorset and North Poole.

This will be her second attempt after losing to Conservative candidate Michael Tomlinson in 2015.

Speaking to the Echo she said it would be "scary" to go through it all again but was thrilled to get another chance.

"It's going to be hard work, especially as the announcement was a complete shock but I've spoken to my boss and spoken to my family and decided I just have to take this opportunity," she added.

Cllr Slade also said the election would be a "second chance" for the public to think about the EU referendum decision.

"It has given the public a chance to ask themselves if they are happy with the decision made last year but also if they are happy with the direction the country is going in," she added.

"Clearly Brexit will take up a lot of the discussion ahead of the election but there's plenty of other really important things to think about such as Government cuts, the NHS, education and all this war mongering that has been going on."

Cllr Slade acknowledged she has a tough job ahead of her and that this election could hand the Conservatives an even larger majority.

Currently Theresa May has a fragile working majority of just 17 in the Commons and said she wanted "unity" at Westminster as talks on Brexit begin with the European Union.

But Conservative MP for South Dorset, Richard Drax warned that the election should not be turned into "EU referendum two".

He added: "“We should ignore the siren calls to make this EU Referendum 2, or a chance to oppose a so-called ‘hard Brexit’.

"There is only one Brexit, and that’s to leave the EU. Now we need to clear the decks, clearing them more in Westminster than in the country as a whole."

Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns said: "I thought it would be very unlikely that we would have an early election but I see the logic behind the decision.

"I think the public will welcome the fact that there is only seven weeks until the election. It will make it a clean and quick campaign."

Labour has also welcomed the election with leader Jeremy Corbyn commenting that it would give the British people the chance to "vote for a government that will put the interests of the majority first".

And Patrick Canavan, chairman of Bournemouth Labour Party, said a general election might be exactly what the party needs.

"It's no secret that there have been some divisions within the Labour Party, but now we have a general election to fight and I'm hoping this will galvanise the party into some kind of action," he added.

"Labour will be fighting all the seats in Dorset and we are now working to find the candidates."

Mr Canavan admitted that Jeremy Corbyn tends to polarise people but said having a controversial leader was nothing new and that Labour candidates faced similar questions at the doorstep relating to Ed Miliband and Tony Blair.

He also said that Labour would not be fighting for seats with an ant-Brexit campaign.

However Cllr Simon Bull, who was the first member of the Green party elected to Bournemouth Borough Council in 2015, said people had to think about whether they want the "hard Brexit Theresa May is driving us towards".

He added: "A general election would give people the opportunity to think about what kind of society they want to live in."

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Decision on LGR ‘likely’ to be delayed

AFTER weeks of speculation on when the Government’s decision on local government reorganisation (LGR) will be announced it is now likely to be delayed until after the General Election.

A spokesman for Future Dorset councils, representing Bournemouth, Dorset County, North Dorset, Poole, West Dorset and Weymouth & Portland, which put forward the scheme, said: “It is likely that the proposed General Election on June 8 will impact on the timing of any Government announcement on Future Dorset.

“We will continue to update residents and the media in the event of any further news regarding the timing of Secretary of State’s ‘minded to’ announcement.”

The Government is already in purdah for the mayoralty elections in May.