UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is determined to change the course of the upcoming general election, pledging to defeat the “rigged system” and establish a government that puts “the interests of the majority first.”
In a scheduled speech in London, Corbyn will say on Thursday his party’s defeat in the June 8 snap election won’t be a “foregone conclusion.”
Lawmakers in the UK Parliament’s House of Commons voted 522 to 13 on Wednesday in favor of a motion put forward by May for “snap” elections, with the goal of gaining a stronger mandate for Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.
The election will be held on June 8, nearly a year after 52 percent of Britons voted to leave the European Union (EU). The current Parliament will dissolve on June 3.
May said an early election will bolster the UK’s position in talks over Brexit and is in the country’s national interest. Despite this, she had repeatedly said in the past that she would not seek a new election before 2020.
Influential figures like former Prime Minister Tony Blair argue that May made the call because she knew the Labour Party is in a disadvantaged situation.
Corbyn, however, will say that he is still able to win.
"Much of the media and Establishment are saying this election is a foregone conclusion," Corbyn will say.
"They think there are rules in politics, which if you don't follow by doffing your cap to powerful people, accepting that things can't really change, then you can't win."
"But of course those people don't want us to win. Because when we win, it's the people, not the powerful, who win."
He will add: "They say I don't play by the rules - their rules. We can't win, they say, because we don't play their game."