THERESA MAY’S announcement of a snap election is one of the most unscrupulous election announcements of modern times.

Over and over again she has ruled out an early vote. As recently as last month, her spokesman said: “It’s not something she plans to do or wishes to do.” So it is important to be clear that this snap election is not about the good of the country.

This is clearly a cut-and-run election, called before the fallacies of the government promises on Brexit are fully revealed and before the current fall in living standards begins to gather pace.

Fundamentally the decline in living standards that is already under way post-referendum is sure to have played a big part in No 10’s calculations.

It is not simply that now the NHS is in permanent winter, social care is in crisis and that cuts to schools’ budgets and the police threaten to push them in the same direction. Crucially, unlike in 2015, real wages are falling once more.

Recently published Labour analysis, using House of Commons Library-endorsed modelling, shows that average real earnings are set to fall by £1,200 as a result of rising inflation and lower wage growth.

At the Budget last month we saw inflation forecasted to be up this year and average earnings forecasts lowered next year and for the next two years.

The combination of higher prices and lower wages means that living standards are set to be squeezed.

This analysis comes on the back of Institute For Fiscal Studies analysis last year which showed that the “outlook for living standards has deteriorated rather sharply,” describing the prospects for real earnings growth as “dreadful.”

The Resolution Foundation has also said that the “outlook for living standards in 21st-century Britain does not look promising” and that the “weak and regressive nature of income growth in the years ahead should concern us all.”

Labour’s election strategy will rest on far more than drawing attention to May’s opportunism.

This is a fork-in-the-road election for the British people. With another Tory government we face years of economic and social decline, a further advance of xenophobic policies and the collapse of the NHS and education funding as the Tories pursue a hard Brexit aimed at creating a bargain-basement, tax-haven Britain.

Against this background, Labour has pledged to defend jobs and living standards, its own red line in the Brexit negotiations.

We have begun to elaborate policies to do just that, including free school meals, protecting pensioners, defending small businesses, a £10-per-hour minimum wage and so on. All are fully costed and more will follow.

By contrast, Tory policies will continue to drive living standards lower. No wonder May is fighting shy of TV debates. Jeremy Corbyn has the arguments and Labour has the policies that can confound the pundits and win.

There should also be some discussion in this campaign about May’s values and how they contrast with those of the Labour Party and Corbyn.

Anybody interested in Britain’s place in the world will have noted that May is, both figuratively and literally, hand in hand with US President Donald Trump.

After the recent Trump posturing about North Korea, it will be clear to many voters that if you are concerned about world peace, you have to vote for Corbyn’s Labour Party.

There is no question that Labour goes into this general election against terrible headwinds. We have endured months of internal division aimed at destabilising our party’s elected leadership and have been at the receiving end of visceral hostility from inhabitants of the Westminster bubble.

But despite this, Labour is clear on what needs to be done and we go into this general election fighting to win.

The Conservatives have let people down — this is an ideologically driven government which has made ruthless and reckless decisions.

Our NHS is on its knees, our schools are at risk of financial collapse and our economy works for a privileged few.

While the Liberal Democrats may claim to be progressive, the policies of the Con-Dem coalition such as the bedroom tax still hurt a great number of people, while astronomical student fees impoverish our graduates.

In contrast to this, as Corbyn said this week: “Labour will be offering the country an effective alternative to a government that has failed to rebuild the economy, delivered falling living standards and damaging cuts to our schools and NHS.”

In the last couple of weeks, Labour has set out policies that offer a clear and credible choice for the country. We look forward to showing how Labour will stand up for the people of Britain.

This country has never needed a Labour government more — please help our campaign in any way you can.

• Diane Abbott is Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington and shadow home secretary