If you were Theresa May you’d have called a snap election too.

With the Labour Party in apparent disarray and at historic lows in opinion polls, this is the Prime Minister’s chance to strengthen her hand going into Brexit negotiations, to win a mandate in her own right and stand down would-be dissenters on her backbenches, nevermind potentially wiping out the main opposition.

In less than a fortnight (4 May), local elections will take place in England, Scotland and Wales. Even if Labour defies critics and holds its own, Mrs May will say it bolsters her assertion that only the Conservative Party can deliver “strong and stable government”.

A heavy defeat for Labour in the locals, and the race for 10 Downing Street could effectively be over for Jeremy Corbyn, a month before the Westminster vote.

Having consistently stated that she wouldn’t force a snap election, Mrs May will be determined not to repeat the mistake made by the last unelected PM, Gordon Brown. After Mr Brown replaced Tony Blair in 2007, had he taken the country to the polls he could have defeated the Tories’ fresh-faced David Cameron. Instead he waited until 2010, and lost.

Mrs May will also be keen to avoid more embarrassing u-turns, like at the last budget when her Chancellor Philip Hammond binned plans to raise National Insurance Contributions (NICs) of the self-employed after Tory backbenchers rebelled.

The PM’s call for a snap election is not without risks, but it seems that the stars have aligned in her favour.

In Northern Ireland, where we send 18 MPs to Westminster, we could be looking at the prospect of unionist unity pacts and anti-Brexit alliances across the constituencies.

The current share of seats is: 8 DUP, 4 Sinn Féin, 3 SDLP, 2 UUP, 1 Independent (that’s Lady Sylvia Hermon, North Down).

Time will tell if these arrangements all come to fruition. They certainly raise plenty of questions:

  • What signal will Northern Ireland send to Westminster ahead of the commencement of Brexit negotiations?
  • During the short-lived 2016-2017 Assembly mandate, the UUP and SDLP had sought to forge a coherent Opposition to the Executive. What impact will this election have on the parties’ relationship, should they enter into their respective alliances with other parties?
  • What stance will these prospective alliances have on other business in the House of Commons?

There is no doubt that Northern Ireland will be the most affected by Brexit, given our past conflict and the fact that we are the only part of the UK to share a land border with what will continue to be an EU member state (the Republic of Ireland).

Still, in this election there is so much more at stake: in terms of domestic policy, the shape of the UK political landscape and our place within it. At this point, Theresa May has refused to spell out her party’s stances on taxes, among other policies.

With less than 50 days to go until the election, if the polls and predictions of Labour’s demise are to be believed, what’s our strategy in the event of a landslide for Mrs May?