Jeremy Corbyn chickens out of backing election again but Boris Johnson may get wish tomorrow
JEREMY Corbyn chickened out of facing the voters once again on Monday night by trying to scupper the PM’s bid for a December 12 election.
Corbyn ordered his MPs to abstain on a vital vote — denying the two-thirds Commons majority Boris Johnson needed to trigger the pre-Christmas poll.
On Tuesday the PM will try again for December 12, tabling a one-line Bill that requires a simple majority — but which needs SNP or Lib Dem votes to succeed.
But Johnson looks on course to win his fight for a pre-Christmas general election, after a hard fought consensus slowly emerged for a polling day in the second week of December, with Corbyn forced to admit an early poll “is necessary”.
In a key concession to the SNP and Lib Dems – who have called for a snap election on December 9 - Boris agreed not to bring his Brexit deal back to the Commons again before polling day, meaning he'll fight it still in the EU.
And as the parties inched closer, No10 sources also said the PM could be prepared to move the date to December 10 or 11 during overnight negotiations with the two smaller opposition parties.
'WE WILL NOT ALLOW PARALYSIS TO CONTINUE'
And a senior Lib Dem also signalled leader Jo Swinson would accept one of those two dates, saying: “Let’s see what they come back with”.
Mr Johnson told MPs he would try again tomorrow to force a nationwide poll, using a different route in the shape of a short bill.
Boris insisted: “We will not allow this paralysis to continue. One way or another we must proceed straight to an election”.
Ahead of the Commons vote tonight, Tory MPs goaded Labour to ask the PM: “Can he make sure there’s plenty of corn feed for the election chickens on the opposite benches?”
Apologising for a nationwide poll only a few days before Christmas, Boris added: “Nobody wants to put the public to an inconvenience, especially in this season.
“But there is a feeling in the country that this Parliament has run its course.”
And turning his fire on Mr Corbyn, Mr Johnson added: “The leader of the opposition has now run out of excuses.
“It is time for him to move his rusty Trabant from the yellow box junction where it is currently blocking progress.”
“There is a feeling in the country that this Parliament has run its course.”
Also on another day of Brexit high drama in Westminster:
- The PM refused to apologise for failing to deliver on his ‘do or die’ pledge to deliver Brexit on October, and instead blamed Parliament for it.
- Mr Johnson instead pleaded with EU leaders to rule out any more extensions after he formally accepted their three-month delay.
- There was deep unease across the Tory ranks over a pre-Christmas poll before Brexit is delivered, with one minister branding it “a gift for Farage”.
- The Government was forced to pause its £100 million ‘Get Ready for Brexit’ advertising campaign with immediate effect yesterday after the October 31 deadline was formally ditched.
The PM’s Brexit bill concessions to the Lib Dems and SNP means Britain now won’t leave the EU until December 31 at the earliest.
The EU yesterday confirmed a ‘flextension’ of Article 50 for another three months until January 31, or if a deal can be passed before then.
It also angered some Tory Cabinet ministers and backbench MPs, who have strongly opposed being forced to stare down Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party in a pre-departure election fight.
But if the Tories win a majority big enough to pass the Withdrawal Agreement Bill in the two weeks after the general election vote, Britain could leave the EU on New Years Eve, December 31.
MPs voted 299 to 70 in favour of the Prime Minister’s Commons attempt to go to the country on December 12.
'STOP THE SELF-INDULGENCE'
But he needed the support of two-thirds of MPs - 434 - for it to be approved.
Downing Street argued that they were left with no choice but to pull the Brexit bill, after the PM gave Labour Brexiteers and Tory rebels who voted down the timetable for it last week an ultimatum of 6pm tonight to agree a new one, but they failed to.
Former Chancellor Philip Hammond, who was suspended as a Tory for rebelling, fumed: “Parliament showed last week it wanted to get on with the Bill – it’s the government that hasn’t allowed us to do so.
“So stop the self-indulgent focus on elections on both sides and concentrate on passing the Bill. If we’d done that last week, we could have finished it by now.”
Labour’s opposition to the snap vote crumbled after senior party figures admitted they had been “snookered”.
In a U-turn, Mr Corbyn told the Commons he could back a December election as long as it the date was fixed in law and it came before the university holidays so students could vote.
The Labour boss said he will “consider carefully any legislation proposed that locks in the date”.
He told the Commons: “We want something that definitely and definitively takes No Deal off the table and ensures that the voting rights of all our citizens are protected.
“We agree an early election is necessary but also there is good reason why no general election has been held in December since 1923.”
Earlier in the day, Mr Corbyn met with his shadow cabinet where they privately admitted a snap election is now inevitable.
Desperate to get back on the political attack, they discussed tabling a no confidence vote in Bojo on Thursday – what should have been Brexit day.
A Labour source told The Sun: “The idea would be to draw attention to Boris missing his October 31 deadline.”
Tempers flared in the talks as Diane Abbott blasted cry-baby Labour MPs complaining that they would face a massacred in the polls if there is another election.
She raged: “In the run-up to 2017 election, some Labour MPs were crying in my office and in the tearoom as if it’s a f***ing funeral, saying Jeremy should stand down.
“Then they all got re-elected with increased majorities.”
But none of the 40 universities with the largest UK student population break up by December 12.
'LOOK FOR NEAREST DITCH'
Earlier tonight Mr Blackford declared the SNP would back a bill for a December election tomorrow- as long as it left no time for the Government to try and pass its Brexit bill beforehand.
But not all SNP MPs will vote for the bill tomorrow, with Angus MacNeil telling Sky News that he won’t be “giving Boris Johnson his early Christmas present” by approving a December election.
He said: “We should keep Boris Johnson in his cage [and] emasculate him”
He warned the PM he would not get the SNP’s votes for the election tomorrow if he tried to shift the election date to bring back the WAB, insisting: “We will not be bullied by the PM, we will not play his game.”
And mocking the PM over his famous remark saying he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than ask for another Brexit delay, Mr Blackford said: “It’s time for the Prime Minister to look for the nearest ditch.”
A move by Labour MPs to attach a string of amendments to the bill risks derailing a December election altogether.
Arch-Remainer Steve Doughty said he and fellow Labour MPs would amend tomorrow’s bill to give 16 and 17-year-olds the vote as well as EU citizens and also new rules on how much parties can spend on social media ads.
But their success hinges on winning the support of SNP and Lib Dem MPs and both parties signalled they will not back the amendments tomorrow in order to keep the December election date on track.
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No10 has said it will pull the bill altogether if it is amended with votes for 16 year-olds.
Mr Blackford also savaged Labour’s refusal to commit to an election, accusing them of “sitting on their hands and waiting for this Government to deliver Brexit”.
He stormed: “I say to the Labour party, don’t be the handmaidens of the Prime Minister’s Brexit.”
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