Theresa May asks for mandate to lead as election campaigning begins

LATEST: Theresa May asked voters for the mandate to lead post-Brexit Britain as she rallied Tory troops for the looming election campaign ahead.

UPDATE 6.30pm: Theresa May asked voters for the mandate to lead post-Brexit Britain as she rallied Tory troops for the looming election campaign ahead.

The Prime Minister gave a short speech in a parish hall in Walmsley, a village in the Labour target seat of Bolton North East, as the scramble for votes begins hours after MPs voted to clear the way for the June 8 poll.