MPs have approved plans for a snap general election and the poll will now take place on June 8.

A total of 522 MPs backed the Prime Minister's plans while just 13 MPs voted against the early election.

The Conservative leader had to lay a motion before the House of Commons and gain the House's approval.

Under the 2011 Fixed Term Parliaments Act, Theresa May needed the support of two-thirds of all MPs (434).

The SNP's 54 MPs opted to abstain from the vote.

Scotland's three Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs voted for the motion.

Natalie McGarry and Michelle Thomson, both independent MPs after resigning the SNP whip, were the only Scots to vote against an early election.

May had repeatedly said she had no plans to hold a snap general election but publicly U-turned on her stance at a hastily arranged address on the steps of Downing Street on Tuesday.

The next scheduled election was not supposed to take place until 2020.