IT’S TIME TO STUFF THE TURKEY
MPs back Christmas showdown... and give voters chance to get rid of Johnson
VOTERS will finally get the chance to axe reckless Boris Johnson after MPs backed a December 12 election.
Jeremy Corbyn launched Labour’s bid to oust the PM to break the Brexit deadlock and overturn crippling Tory austerity.
He said: “We want the country to be rid of this destructive government.”
JEREMY Corbyn launched his bid to oust Boris Johnson by vowing an “ambitious and radical” campaign to fix the damage nine years of Tory austerity has unleashed on Britain.
The Labour leader outlined his plan to right the wrongs of a reckless government that has plunged children, the disabled and pensioners into poverty with savage welfare cuts, driven people to foodbanks and left the NHS on its knees, while giving tax breaks to rich cronies.
Mr Corbyn also promised to get Brexit done and dusted but with a second referendum on any new deal.
Writing exclusively in the Mirror today, he says: “We will get Brexit sorted by giving the people the final say within six months, with the choice of a sensible Leave deal or Remain. And we will carry out what you decide.”
Mr Corbyn was finally handed his chance to topple Mr Johnson after MPs voted in favour of a December 12 general election. But there were fears of a low turnout in a poll during what is forecast to be Britain’s coldest winter in 30 years as another Beast from the East big freeze heads our way.
And as people up and down the land were being urged to register to vote, there was deep unease among Tories about the prospect of a pre-Brexit ballot – especially as blustering Mr Johnson failed to deliver his arrogant “do-or-die” boast of a Halloween exit from the EU by tomorrow.
Mr Corbyn said: “We want this country to be rid of this reckless and destructive government, a government that has caused more of our children to be living in poverty, more pensioners to be in poverty and more people to be in in-work poverty, more families without a home to call their own and more people sleeping rough on our streets. We’re ready to take them on. We’re launching the most ambitious and radical campaign for real change that our country has ever seen. This is a once
in a generation chance to build a country for the many not the few and fit for the next generation. The future is ours to make together.”
MPs voted 438 votes to 20 in favour of a December 12 election, a majority 418. It came after Mr Corbyn’s amendment to hold the poll on December 9 – also favoured by the Lib Dems and SNP – was defeated by 315 votes to 295. The Bill will be debated in the Lords today before it receives Royal Assent tomorrow.
Parliament is due to be dissolved next Wednesday, sparking five and a half weeks of campaigning.
The Brexit extension until January 31 Brussels granted on Monday paved the way for the first winter ballot since 1923. Mr Corbyn admitted the delay was crucial in him deciding to back a poll, which he had refused to do unless the PM ditched his reckless no-deal Brexit plan. Mr Johnson and adviser Dominic Cummings believe the Tories can win the election as they are ahead in the polls. But they led by a bigger margin when Theresa May blew her majority in 2017. And one Downing Street insider admitted they were “nervous”, adding: “It’s like dropping a can of paint and watching it splatter. Nobody knows how it’s going to fall.” Tory backbencher Robert Halfon revealed Mr Johnson told the 1922 Committee last night: “It’ll be one of the toughest elections ever.”
Ten of the 21 Tories axed for helping ditch no-deal had the party whip restored after meeting the PM last night, including Winston Churchill’s grandson Sir Nicholas Soames.
Labour MP Owen Smith, who challenged
Mr Corbyn for the leadership in 2016, said he was standing down for “political and personal reasons”.
Ex-Tory Heidi Allen, who quit for Change UK then the Lib Dems, is stepping down because of political “nastiness”.