UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday that he would give parliament more time to scrutinise his Brexit plan if it agrees to hold a snap general election on December 12.
The conservative premier suspended debates on his EU divorce deal after parliament on Tuesday refused to fast-track the hearings ahead of the October 31 Brexit deadline.
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Johnson is opposed to delaying Britain’s exit from the European Union a third time.
On Friday, the EU is expected to agree to the length of a Brexit deadline extension.
Earlier on Tuesday, lawmakers also gave their support “in principle” for the agreement. It marked the first time the House of Commons had backed any Brexit proposal since the 2016 EU referendum.
Johnson said Thursday that the only way to achieve a breakthrough in the process was for parliament to vote in favour of holding a general election.
He further said, “The way to get Brexit done is, I think, to be reasonable with parliament and say if they genuinely want more time to study this excellent deal, they can have it — but they have to agree on a general election on December 12”.
“It’s time, frankly, that the opposition summoned up the nerve to submit themselves to the judgement of our collective boss, which is the people of the UK”, Johnson added.
Johnson must win the support of two-thirds of MPs in the House of Commons to hold early polls under current election rules.
Earlier on Monday, Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of the House of Commons, told lawmakers that a debate on the bill would start with ministers hoping to get it through all its House of Commons stages.
The bill was published just hours after the speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, rejected a government’s bid for a meaningful vote on the London-Brussels Brexit agreement in the day.
Last week, Johnson took to Twitter, and said, “We’ve got a great new deal that takes back control”.
The new deal is largely the same as the one agreed by former Prime Minister Theresa May last year – but it removes the controversial backstop clause, which critics say could have kept the UK tied indefinitely to EU customs rules.
After the vote, EU Council President Donald Tusk said that he would recommend European leaders backed an extension to the Brexit deadline, though he did not say what length it should be.
The whole of the UK will leave the EU customs union, meaning it could strike trade deals with other countries in the future. The EU is now considering how to respond to the UK’s request for a delay but has said Saturday’s developments did not mean that the deal had been rejected. The UK is due to leave the EU at 11 pm on October 31.
(With inputs from AFP)
