Why calling for a general election now is a very bad idea for Labour

Labour have joined the Lib Dems and the Greens in calling for a snap general election in the autumn.

The party's election co-ordinator Jon Trickett said it was "crucial" that the public have a say in the new prime minister:

It now looks likely that we are about to have the coronation of a new Conservative Prime Minister.

It is crucial, given the instability caused by the Brexit vote, that the country has a democratically elected Prime Minister.

I am now putting the whole of the party on a general election footing.

As the below chart by Statista shows, his calls are backed by Labour supporters...

...but, really, it's a bad idea, as people have pointed out.

The polls show that Corbyn's Labour is behind the Conservatives, by a fairly large margin...

...while he ranks as the least popular opposition leader after ten months since Michael Foot.

Oh, and the Conservatives have a new leader, while Labour's leadership contest is ongoing.

If you were Theresa May, you'd be quite happy to wait till 2020, sort out Brexit and the fallout, and then win an even bigger majority then, in order to gain a nine year term.

An election now would be a bloodbath for Labour, if the polls are anything to go by - the same polls which overestimated the Labour vote in 2015.

Food for thought.

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