After the shock announcement yesterday of a snap General Election to be held on June 8th, it is looked upon as a mere formality that the vote to officially trigger the process, put to the House of Commons later today, will pass without undue opposition.

Amongst the frenzied activities that are currently making the halls of Westminster ring with either joy or despair. Battle buses are being un-mothballed. Old tired speeches re-vamped and opinion pollsters gave a fresh makeover. If we look closely at the contenders now under starting orders: they look very much like this.

Which way will it go?

CONSERVATIVES 330 seats. They more than anyone else holds pole position in this race, way ahead of the field, and certainly odds-on favourites. Ms May has been extremely shrewd, never mind the protestations otherwise. She has seen her chance and taken it, in the words of Winston Churchill, 'to destroy the Labour vote for the foreseeable future'. A positive mandate from the people allowing her to leave her mark, on her government, in her way, not just shoring up a past administration's mistakes. Her priorities - Immigration, NHS, Education, Security.

LABOUR 229 seats. Jeremy Corbyn is in an unenviable position. Like some clueless grandparent, he appears nothing but bemused as his party's showing in the polls stands at a 30 year low, The problem is no one knows what either he or his party actually stand for?

With Brexit he was indecisive. With Immigration he was indecisive, and with practically every other policy concerning this country he appears to be...indecisive. With nothing but resignations and in-fighting, he has really got to move some if he is to come from the back of the field! His priorities - yet to be decided?

LIB - DEM 9 seats.

Tim Farron seems like a nice man! Unfortunately, the Lib-Dem's lost any momentum they had built up with what some see as a disastrous hook-up with David Cameron, and although they have certainly made inroads in the past months, gaining a considerable amount of new members, they have to make up substantial ground to get back to where they were even 10 years ago.

Priorities - wait and see?

SNP The SNP have an easier battle, they hold almost all of Scotland's Westminister seats in their hands, so the next 7 weeks is about consolidation. Holding on to what has been gained, against mounting criticism from their Holyrood opposition, that they are more concerned about Independence than concentrating on 'domestic issues;' which they have a markedly poor record on. Nicola Sturgeon in her usual petulant fashion has made it clear that Independence is still very much on the table, saying this morning that she would form a coalition with anyone in order to keep the Conservatives out of office; so no change there then?

UKIP To say that UKIP as a party is about to attempt a climb of Everest without oxygen is an understatement.

Leader Paull Nutall has the unenviable task of starting from point zero. Having lost their only MP Duncan Carswell last month to the freedom of independence, he has little foundation to build on.The next seven weeks will either see the making or breaking of them? The other 28 seats that make up the House are held by an assortment of Irish-interests, greens and independents, leaving the government with a working majority of only 17 out of a possible 650 seats.

The cards are up in the air for now

So, in amongst all this conjecture and with everything to play for, it is worthwhile remembering that some parts of the UK have faced 3 major political tests in as many years. (Scotland-independence 2014/a second on the horizon - The UK - general election/2015 - the UK -Brexit/2016) Again it would be surely fair to ask?

Are we all not all getting rather sick of talking heads, opinion polls and ballot boxes? The people need to see a clear way forward and a unified front in the task or national regeneration we are facing in the coming years, hopefully, a positive outcome will give us that...