The legislation approved by MPs on Tuesday will later begin its passage through the House of Lords, where it is not expected to be opposed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he is ready to fight a "tough" general election.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the snap poll was a "once-in-a-generation" opportunity to transform the country.

Writing in the Daily Mirror, he said: "We're launching the most ambitious and radical campaign for real change that our country has ever seen."

But Mr Johnson hopes the vote will give him a fresh mandate for his deal to leave the EU and break the current deadlock in Parliament.

He told Conservative MPs it was time for the country to "come together to get Brexit done", adding: "It'll be a tough election and we are going to do the best we can."

The poll comes after the EU extended the UK's exit deadline to 31 January 2020 - although Brexit can happen earlier if a deal is agreed by MPs.

Corbyn and Johnson will face each other at Prime Minister's Questions at mid-day - likely to be final clash before Parliament is dissolved for the election.

.The Early Parliamentary General Election Bill - which prompts the election - will be debated in the House of Lords on Wednesday

.If peers make any amendments to the bill, it will head back to the Commons for MPs to approve or reject the changes

.Once passed, the bill will receive Royal Assent - when the Queen formally agrees to the bill becoming law

.On Monday 4 November, MPs are due to elect a new Speaker to replace John Bercow

.Just after midnight on Wednesday 6 November, Parliament will be shut down or "dissolved" - meaning every seat in the House of Commons becomes vacant

.Five weeks later, the country will go to the polls for the first December election since 1923

The legislation approved by MPs now must be rubberstamped by the House of Lords.

It would be pretty strange if unelected peers up the corridor from the green benches decided to say no or throw spanners in the works of a decision made by the House of Commons last night.

Unless something very strange happens, we are now on for an election.

Both sides are very, very nervous about what might unfold. And both sides are right to be nervous.

The two main party leaders, in a strange kind of mirror of each other, are happy campaigners, but divisive characters.

Both of them will try to set the agenda, but they can't know where this will all take us.

They can't know if it will be their issues they're able to talk about at length, but that's the glory of elections - it's up to voters to set the terms.

They decide the things they care about, they are interested in and they will put politicians on the spot about.

Opening skirmishes

Labour's Shadow chancellor John McDonnell, said the election wouldn't just be about Brexit - telling BBC Breakfast: "It will be about what has happened over the last nine years of austerity and our public services."

"We want to give people hope again about the future," he said.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he was "certainly not yearning for general election", but he believed it was "the only way to move the country forward".

He said the Conservatives would be offering a "centrist agenda" to voters - and his party would be running a more "optimistic" campaign than their widely-criticised 2017 effort, which led to Theresa May losing her majority.

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson said the poll was "our best chance to elect a government to stop Brexit".

For the Scottish National Party, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said an election was an opportunity for the country to hold another independence referendum.

"A win for the SNP will be an unequivocal and irresistible demand for Scotland's right to choose our own future," she said.

But the Scottish Conservatives claimed voting for their party would keep Scotland in the UK.

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage welcomed the election, tweeting the deadlock had been "broken" and "Brexit now has a chance to succeed".