The surprise announcement by Theresa May that a General Election will be held on 8th June has caught everybody by surprise. In a world of leaks to the media it makes a nice change to be caught out by the news.

We were born out of the need for the political world to be exposed to the evidence base for good sports policy formulation by a group of us frustrated by the way it happened in the past. We are also passionate in helping the 'sports world' understand how policy is made and formulated. So a general election is a good opportunity to discuss policy and manifestos. However, as it has only been two years since the 2015 election it does seem a little worrying that we might have to start all over again so soon.

When Tracey Crouch arrived as Sport Minister in 2015 she set about changing policy in quite a dramatic way. The Sporting Futures policy strategy has led to enormous change in policy and delivery from Sport England and UK Sport. For most organisations it feels as though those reforms are only just starting to take shape on the ground. Change is a constant theme in sport, but a period of delivery would be something I hear most sports would like for now.

If we look seriously at the polls it seems obvious that a Tory win with an increased majority is the most likely outcome. However, BREXIT and Trump have given us all cause to doubt predicting election outcomes.

At the Think Tank we see it as our role to make sure sports policy and thinking doesn't get lost in the General Election campaigning - so we will be holding events, inviting blogs and comments from the spokespersons from the various parties. We look forward to hearing from you too.