Opposition call for a snap General Election after Theresa May is confirmed as new PM

THERESA May is facing calls to trigger a snap general election when she becomes Prime Minister later this week.

Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens say Mrs May has "no right to govern" after it was revealed she would be given the keys to No10 by Wednesday.

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Lib Dem leader Tim Farron claims Mrs May has "no meaningful democratic mandate" while Labour's Jon Trickett said "it is crucial, given the instability caused by the Brexit vote, that the country has a democratically elected Prime Minister".

He went on to brand Mrs May’s election as a “coronation”.

Will she have to trigger a general election?

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She is under no legal obligation to call a general election and could legitimately serve as PM until May 7, 2020 - the date the next general election is pencilled in for.

She is already facing calls from opposition parties to have a snap general election. She will pay this very little attention.

But if, for whatever reason, Mrs May faces any serious opposition to her leadership from her own MPs, she might have to.

With a small majority in the Commons, if a small cabal of just 12 Conservatives MPs kick up a stink they could turn Mrs May's government into a zombie parliament - unable to pass legislation - and she would be forced to call a general election.

But Mrs May won the largest ever backing in the second round of voting with 199 MPs voting for her leadership - more than 60 per cent of the party.

The Tories have been hamstrung by the EU referendum for most of the year so will be desperate to get down to the business of government.

So she is unlikely to face too much trouble from her own MPs.

Why would she?

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When Gordon Brown took over the reins from Tony Blair in 2007, Mrs May said “he has no democratic mandate”.

May, like Brown, will not have been voted in by the electorate and is already facing accusations from opposition benches that she is yet to win the backing of the public.

She might also call a snap election for tactical reasons. The Labour Party is in turmoil with Jeremy Corbyn facing a leadership challenge from Angela Eagle amid claims traditional Labour voters are abandoning the Party.

So she could be tempted to take advantage of the chaos on opposition benches in a bid to secure a quick win.

Unlikely though, as she promised Tory MPs during her brief campaign not to call a snap election and to carry on until 2020.

Why wouldn’t she?

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With the markets suffering from a bad case of the post-Brexit yips, Mrs May and her Treasury colleagues will be keen to avoid any further uncertainty to steady the UK economy.

The markets have surged since it was announced Mrs May had a clear run to No10, with the FTSE100 index reaching one of its highest points all year. They won't want to meddle while the markets are merry.

While the Tories won’t lose any sleep over voters flocking to Labour, it is impossible to rule out a disillusioned electorate deciding to stick two fingers up to establishment and opting for a protest vote.

How could she?

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Back in 2010 a PM could call a general election at a time which best suited them by asking the Queen to dissolve parliament.

But one of the Coalition Government’s legacies was the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 which has curbed what could be seen as an unfair advantage.

An early election can now be triggered if 2/3 of MPs in the Commons vote for it or if a simple majority of MPs passes a vote of no confidence in the government.

The latter of these two options gives the government 14 days to form a new government and secure a vote of confidence from the Commons.

But in all likelihood we're not going to get to that stage.