The UK will hold general elections on December 12 in which Britons will decide the composition of the government that will be tasked with steering the country through the tortuous “Brexit” process of withdrawing from the European Union (EU).
On Tuesday, the House of Commons backed the plan by conservative PM Boris Johnson to hold a snap – or early – election, Efe news reported.
Johnson’s party is ahead in recent voter surveys and, with the balloting, he will be trying to recover his parliamentary majority so that he can ensure lawmakers’ ratification of his pact with the EU by which he intends to take Britain out of the European bloc.
Almost 200 MPs abstained in the key vote, many of them Labour MPs who fear that their party faces a possible election rout and who favoured holding a second EU referendum before going to the polls.
Johnson brought 10 Conservative rebel MPs back into the fold, as he tried to heal party wounds and prepare the ground for what could be a tight and highly volatile contest.
Last month, the British PM sacked 21 Tory MPs after they defied him over Brexit.
On Tuesday, UK government said that the “We will try again with a new route for a December 12 election in a vote, saying it was time to “get Brexit done”.
Addressing to the parliament, Johnson said, “Later on this evening, the government will give notice of presentation for a short bill for an election on the 12th of December so we can finally get Brexit done”.
Earlier on Monday, the European Union granted an extension to the UK’s membership of the trading bloc, Britain and Northern Ireland had been aiming to leave on October 31 but with Parliament unable to agree on the terms of the departure, Johnson was legally forced to ask for another extension.
“The EU27 has agreed that it will accept the UK’s request for a Brexit flex tension until 31 January 2020,” the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, tweeted.
“Flextension” means a flexible extension. If MPs approve the Brexit deal sooner, the UK could leave the EU before January 31, 2020.
If the vote was lost, the sources said that the government would then “look at all options” including ideas similar to those proposed by other parties.
MPs have already twice rejected a call from the Prime Minister to hold a general election.
(With inputs from agency)