Pressure mounts for UK election vote as leaks suggest EU will grant three month extension
Boris Johnson’s government has stepped up pressure on MPs to back the British prime minister’s bid to hold an early election and break the Brexit impasse.
It came as the Guardian newspaper tonight reported that it had seen a leaked draft of the proposed agreement in which the EU is preparing to sign off on a Brexit extension to the end of January, with an option for the UK to leave earlier if a deal is ratified.
But with the main opposition Labour Party waiting for the EU to grant a Brexit delay, and two other parties launching their own bid for an even earlier election, the government’s bid so far looks set to fail.
Britain was due to leave the EU next Thursday, but despite the government arguing this is still the legal default date, few expect Mr Johnson to meet his “do or die” promise to deliver Brexit on October 31 after the bloc agreed to another delay.
More than three years since Britain voted to leave the EU, the divided country and its parliament are still debating over how, when, and even whether Brexit — Britain’s biggest policy shift for more than 40 years — should happen.
All of Britain’s political parties agree an election is needed to break the standoff over Brexit, but do not see eye-to-eye on its timing.
For many politicians, an attempt by Mr Johnson to set the terms of a new election raises concerns that he might renege.
A source at Mr Johnson’s Downing St office said the prime minister would do all he can to force an election to “get Brexit done”, including considering options offered by other opposition parties.
“Parliament cannot hold the country hostage any longer,” Mr Johnson said on Saturday. “Millions of businesses and people cannot plan their futures; this paralysis is causing real damage and the country must move on in 2020.”
Culture minister Nicky Morgan doubled down on the message yesterday, warning MPs that Thursday was still “the default leaving date”.
“So that should focus minds,” she told Sky News.
Last week, Mr Johnson called for a general election on December 12, offering parliament until November 6 to ratify his Brexit deal — the first time he had conceded he would not meet his October 31 deadline. It is his third attempt to get the required backing in parliament, where he needs the support of two-thirds of its 650 MPs for a new election.
Several parties quickly rejected the bid, with the Democratic Unionist Party also seemingly ready to oppose the move.
The easiest path for the governing Conservatives would be if the prime minister’s move was supported by the Labour Party, which so far has said it needs to see what kind of delay the EU would offer before making a decision.
The EU has agreed there should be an extension, but has set no departure date, saying it would wait to see how parliament voted on Mr Johnson’s call for an early election.
“Of course we want a general election but we’ve got to make sure that we get those absolute reassurances that Boris Johnson won’t use a general election and the campaign to crash us out of the European Union with a disastrous no-deal Brexit,” said Jon Ashworth, Labour’s health policy chief. “That is what we’re waiting for.”
Earloier today a Downing St source gave a veiled warning to Labour, saying the government would consider all options, including those proposed by other opposition parties, if Labour opposed “being held to account by the people yet again”.
That could suggest the government may consider backing a move by two other opposition parties, the Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrats, who have written to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, to ask for a delay until January 31. They want a new poll on December 9.
Earlier, Mr Morgan and Mr Ashworth described the move as a stunt, putting into question whether the two parties’ alternative bid could be passed by parliament.
With the government looking likely to lose its vote, former finance minister Philip Hammond had a word of warning for the prime minister. “I shall be voting against him. This is not the time to be holding a general election, it is a time for cool heads and grown-up government,” he told Sky News.
Meanwhile, DUP leader Arlene Foster claimed there is no public appetite for fundamental reform of Stormont powersharing structures that would see changes to the parallel consent model.
The mechanism that requires the support of a majority of unionists and a majority of nationalists before changes can be agreed has recently become a source of dispute in the Brexit impasse.
