December polls likely in UK as Labour set to back Boris plan
Opposition parties are squabbling over which day in early December is best for the first Christmas election in Britain since 1923 and whether to allow settled European Union citizens a vote.
London, Oct. 29: Britain was on course for a December election Tuesday after the main Opposition Labour party said it would support Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan, although a date has not yet been fixed.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “I have consistently said that we are ready for an election and our support is subject to a ‘no deal’ Brexit being off the table.”
He said the decision by EU leaders on Monday to
delay Brexit to January 31 meant that “for the next three months, our condition of taking No Deal off the table has now been met.
“We will now launch the most ambitious and radical campaign for real change our country has ever seen,” he said in a statement.
Mr Johnson has called for an election on December 12 but Labour and other opposition parties are pushing for a date nearer to December 9.
“It will be a December election,” a Labour party source told AFP.
The Prime Minister will on Tuesday bring forward a bill to legislate for the snap poll, which is expected to pass Parliament in the next few days.
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London, Oct. 29: Britain was heading towards a December election on Tuesday after Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s bet on breaking the Brexit deadlock with an early vote gained support from Opposition parties.
As the European Union finalises a third delay to the divorce that was originally supposed to take place on March 29, the United Kingdom, its parliament and its voters remain divided on how or indeed whether to go ahead with Brexit.
Johnson, who had promised to deliver Brexit on October 31 ‘do or die,’ has repeatedly demanded an election to end what he casts as a nightmare paralysis that is sapping public trust by preventing any Brexit outcome at all.
In a move that raises the chances of a rare parliamentary success for Johnson, the opposition Labour Party’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said its condition of ruling out a no-deal Brexit had been met, so it would support an election.
“Labour will back a general election,” said Corbyn, a veteran socialist campaigner.
“The Labour Party loves a debate but they also love the end of the debate, and this is the end of the debate: We are going out there to win.”
Lawmakers could bring significant changes to Johnson’s bill.
Opposition parties are squabbling over which day in early December is best for an election and whether to allow settled European Union citizens a vote.
Meanwhile, the legislation enacting Johnson’s Brexit deal has been put on hold, pending an election, said Jacob ReesMogg, who oversees the government’s legislative agenda in the House of Commons.
The first Christmas election in Britain since 1923 would be highly unpredictable: Brexit has variously fatigued and enraged swathes of voters while eroding traditional loyalties to the two major parties, Conservative and Labour.
Ultimately, voters would have a choice between an emboldened Johnson pushing for his Brexit deal or a socialist government under Corbyn. re-negotiating the deal before a referendum.
If no party wins conclusively, the Brexit deadlock will continue.