Is festive general election on the cards?

● EU looks likely to grant extension, meaning a vote

Boris Johnson could call a Christmas general election if European leaders agree to push the Brexit date back to January. Downing Street sources said yesterday that it “looked like” Brussels was on course to offer the new exit date of January 31 after talks today.

In that instance, the prime minister “will have to go for a general election”, a Number 10 source said.

The source added: “The prime minister wants to get his deal done by October 31. If this Parliament is unwilling to vote for a deal, then we will have to go for a general election.

“If there were a general election called, we would campaign on the fact that we’ve got a great deal that will get Brexit done.”

The likely extension comes after the prime minister had his attempt to fast-track the Brexit legislation through the Commons blocked on Tuesday night.

MPs said Mr Johnson’s plan to pass his Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) in just a matter of days was not enough time for proper scrutiny.

In a bid to find an alternate route through the Brexit impasse, Mr Johnson met Jeremy Corbyn yesterday morning to discuss a plan to re-table the WAB. Their meeting failed to reach a workable conclusion however, as a senior Tory source said the Labour leader wanted only to have “more delays and to spend 2020 having referendums”.

Mr Corbyn’s spokesman dismissed the characterisation of the meeting, saying the opposition was “ready to work together with the Government” to find a “reasonable and sensible” way of getting the WAB completed.

The spokesman also made clear

“If this Parliament is unwilling to vote for a deal, we will have to go for a general election”

Labour “would support an election once a no-deal crash-out is off the table”.

Meanwhile, European ambassadors will be meeting in Brussels today to discuss the state of play and feed back to national leaders.

The first opportunity for a formal decision to be reached by the EU will come tomorrow.

If they do not agree in writing then there could be a summit on Monday to thrash out the terms of a delay.

LOOKING BOTH WAYS: Pro and anti-Brexit demonstrators outside the Houses of Parliament