CAN BORIS WIN HIS CHRISTMAS GAMBLE?
PM on brink of sealing December 12 election ++ He puts Brexit deal on ice after EU extension ++ Now there’s just one burning question:
BORIS Johnson will today make a dramatic final push to force an election on December 12.
the Prime Minister told MPs they would be asked to vote this afternoon on a pre-Christmas poll to ‘replace this dysfunctional parliament and get Brexit done’.
Jeremy Corbyn yesterday stymied an initial bid to hold an election on December 12 by ordering Labour MPs to abstain. Under the Fixed-term Parliaments act, an early poll requires the support of two-thirds of all MPs.
Ministers were last night trying to strip Mr Corbyn of his veto by cajoling the Liberal Democrats and the SNP into backing a Bill to allow an election through a simple Commons majority.
In return the Prime Minister has agreed to their demands to halt efforts to pass his Brexit deal. his aides admit today’s vote is probably his last chance to land a quick poll.
Yet their hopes risk being dashed amid complaints from squabbling opposition parties that December 12 was ‘too dark’, or could ‘disenfranchise’ students whose terms end that week.
Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson declined to say whether her 19 MPs would back Mr Johnson but pointed out she had rejected December 12. Government
sources said it was too late to meet the Lib Dems’ preferred date of December 9 – but indicated that the two following days were possible compromise options.
In the Commons, Mr Johnson said: ‘We will not allow this paralysis to continue. This House can no longer keep the country hostage. Millions of families and businesses cannot plan for the future.’
The PM accused Mr Corbyn of ‘literally and figuratively running away from the judgment of the British people’. In other Brexit drama: Brussels confirmed that Britain’s exit from the EU will be delayed until at least January 31 unless Parliament passes Mr Johnson’s deal earlier;
No 10 was defiant over the delay, saying that the PM’s failure to meet his ‘do or die’ pledge to get the UK out on time was Parliament’s fault;
A £100million campaign warning the UK to prepare for the possibility of a No Deal Brexit on October 31 was ‘paused’;
SNP leader Ian Blackford warned his MPs could use the election legislation to railroad through their dream of extending the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds;
Downing Street denied Labour claims that he is planning to make the ‘chicken run’ from his marginal seat in west London to a safer one in Kent;
Official figures revealed almost two million people have registered to vote in the past eight weeks amid mounting speculation about an early election.
Mr Johnson is unable to simply call an election because of the conditions of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, which state that the next election should not be held until June 2022.
The legislation, passed by the coalition government, allows for an early election only if two-thirds of MPs back the idea in a Commons vote.
But yesterday, for the third time in recent months, Mr Corbyn ordered his Labour MPs to abstain. As a result, the vote was won by 299 votes to 70 – well short of the 434 votes needed to secure an early poll.
Mr Johnson said the Government would now press ahead today with a ‘simple Bill’ that sets aside the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act and states that the next election should be held on December 12.
The idea was first floated at the weekend – with a date of December 9 – by the Lib Dems and SNP, who both see an electoral advantage in going to the polls before Brexit is delivered.
Last night, Tory chief whip Mark Spencer was leading intensive talks with his counterparts in the two minor parties in the hope of stitching together a compromise that would deliver a pre-Christmas election.
Government sources said it was all but impossible to get the legislation through in time for an election on December 9 as this would require Parliament to be dissolved on Thursday night.
Sources said MPs also had to pass Northern Ireland budget legislation before an election could be held.
Mr Corbyn suggested parts of the country would be too dark in the evening to hold an election on December 12. He later appeared to hint he could drop his opposition if the poll was held a few days earlier. But Labour transport spokesman Andy McDonald last night suggested his party was unlikely to change its position and back the Government.
‘I think it’s very unwise to be having a general election in the run-up to Christmas,’ he said.
Mr Johnson’s allies are determined to secure a pre-Christmas election, believing it is the only way to break the Brexit deadlock. The Prime Minister told MPs: ‘Across the country there is a widespread view that this Parliament has run its course.
‘I simply do not believe that this House is capable of delivering on the priorities of the people, whether that means Brexit or anything else.’ However, some senior Tories such as Northern Ireland Secretary
Julian Smith, Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan and Health Secretary Matt Hancock have argued it would be better to try to pass the PM’s Brexit deal before going to the polls.
Damian Green, leader of the One Nation group of Tory MPs, urged Mr Johnson to press on with trying to get the withdrawal agreement through Parliament rather than gambling with an election. Mr Green said: ‘It’s much better for us to have an election after the Withdrawal Agreement Bill is passed. Any other course of action is incredibly risky.’
Fellow Tory Matthew Offord warned an amendment to give 16 and 17-year- olds the vote was ‘inevitable’ as ‘it’s the only way Labour could save themselves’.
The SNP, which last week described the idea of a December election as ‘barking mad’, has indicated it could now back an early poll.
However the party’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford yesterday indicated that he would push for 16-year-olds to be given the vote – a red line for No 10.
Angus MacNeil, a senior SNP MP, warned against handing Mr Johnreceiving
‘We have got him in a cage’
son a ‘Christmas present’. He said: ‘We would be better having a referendum than an election, which can gift one side victory with 35 per cent of the vote. We have currently got him in a cage. He is going to be an escaped vulture fairly soon, when he will give you any Brexit, or a No Deal Brexit or anything you want and claim a mandate for it.’
Former Cabinet minister David Gauke, one of 21 Tory MPs suspended for opposing No Deal, also cautioned about a December election, saying: ‘When someone opens the front door to a stranger in December they expect to be sung a carol, not asked how they are going to vote.’
Following yesterday’s vote, Mr Corbyn said Labour would want to scrutinise whatever ministers put forward.
He said it had to be clear that the Government could not force through a No Deal Brexit against the wishes of Parliament. Miss Swinson said: ‘If Boris Johnson wants a general election, then he could have supported our Bill for a general election on December 9.’
Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg last night told MPs the Government would try to push the election legislation through all its Commons stages today – a process normally reserved for emergency laws on issues such as terrorism.