Winter poll looms despite Johnson’s defeat by MPS

●SNP defends U-turn on support for general election ahead of Christmas

Boris Johnson will make a second attempt in 24 hours to secure a snap election when he asks MPS to vote again tonight on going to the polls in December.

The Prime Minister effectively abandoned his Brexit deal in a bid to win the votes he needs from the SNP and Liberal Democrats, pledging not to try to rush legislation through in the final days of a parliament he claimed had “run its course”. It came as the EU confirmed an extension of the UK’S Brexit deadline to 31 January 2020.

Mr Johnson is holding firm to his preferred election date of 12 December after the Nationalists and the Lib Dems put forward their own proposal to go to the polls three days earlier – but a Downing Street source said the government could seek to “split the difference” on the timing.

The Prime Minister had urged the

Commons to back his plan for a 12 December poll in a vote last night, which would have provided time to pass the Withdrawal Agreement Bill before the start of the campaign.

But MPS voted 299 to 70, short of the two-thirds majority needed under the Fixedterm Parliaments Act (FTPA).

After the defeat, Mr Johnson confirmed that the government would table a “short bill” that would require only a simple majority.

“We will not allow this paralysis to continue, and one way or another we must proceed straight to an election,” Mr Johnson told MPS.

“So, later on this evening, the government will give notice of presentation for a short bill for an election on 12 December so we can finally get Brexit done.”

He added: “This House cannot any longer keep this country hostage.”

Mr Johnson concluded: “Now that no-deal is off the table, we have a great new deal, and it’s time for the voters to have a chance to pronounce on that deal and to replace this dysfunctional parliament with a new parliament that can get Brexit done so the country can move on.”

Explaining that the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) would not return to the Commons, a Number 10 source said: “We are laying a oneclause motion to amend the FTPA and call an election with the named day of December 12.

“The bill is very similar to the Lib DEM-SNP bill. The WAB will not be put back. This is the way to get Brexit done so the country can move on.”

Responding to the Prime Minister’s announcement that he would make a second bid for an election, Ian Blackford, the SNP’S Westminster leader, said opposition parties “don’t trust this Prime Minister and we don’t trust this Prime Minister for good reason” and said the SNP would back an election only if Brexit legislation is shelved.

“The Prime Minister, if he is going to bring forward a bill, must give an absolute castiron assurance that up until the passage of that bill and the rising of Parliament, that there will be no attempt to bring forward the Withdrawal Agreement Bill,” Mr Blackford said.

While the Lib Dems did not rule out backing the government, their leader, Jo Swinson, indicated that they would not accept the proposed 12 December election date.

Ms Swinson said: “If Boris Johnson wants a general election, then he could have supported our bill for a general election on 9 December.

“Instead he has chosen to stick to his original plan for 12 December, which we have already rejected.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “We will obviously look and scrutinise that bill and we look forward to a clear, definitive decision that no-deal is absolutely off the table and there is no danger of this Prime Minister not sticking to his word.”

But with Labour MPS fiercely opposed to an election, shadow transport secretary Andy Mcdonald later indicated they were unlikely to change their position and back the government.

“I think it’s very unwise to be having a general election in the run-up to Christmas,” he told Sky News.

Earlier, European leaders agreed that Britain will remain in the EU until next year unless Parliament ratifies Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal sooner.

After a meeting of ambassadors, European Council president Donald Tusk said the EU27 would accept the UK’S request for a Brexit “flextension” until 31 January.

The Prime Minister had said he would prefer to be “dead in a ditch” than break his pledged to take the UK out of the EU by the 31 October deadline.

Downing Street said that an advertising campaign that had urged individuals and businesses to get ready for Brexit on 31 October would be withdrawn.

The campaign across radio, television and outdoor billboards is believed to have cost £100 million. Reports suggest that Operation Yellowhammer, the government’s no-deal Brexit preparedness plan, has also been stood down.