UK PM Boris Johnson on Monday said that the government will try again with a new route for a December 12 election in a vote on Tuesday, saying it was time to “get Brexit done”.
The PM Johnson will publish a bill that would only need a simple majority to succeed – not two thirds as required in previous attempts, the BBC reported.
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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”.
All Conservative MPs backed the motion – but the vast majority of Labour MPs abstained, along with the SNP and DUP. All but one Lib Dem MPs voted against it.
The vote came after the PM officially accepted the EU’s offer of an extension to the Brexit process to January 31.
In a letter to EU officials, Johnson said the further three-month delay – which he insists was forced upon him by Parliament – was “unwanted”.
This means the UK will not now leave the EU on Thursday – October 31 – a promise Johnson had repeatedly made since he became prime minister.
Johnson said he would persist with his efforts to get an early election, telling MPs that “one way or another” the current deadlock had to be broken.
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.
A Downing Street source said on Sunday that MPs would vote on an election “so we can get a new Parliament”.
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 agency inputs)
