Boris Johnson crushes hope of delivering Brexit this year after opening door to December 9 election
BORIS Johnson has opened the door to backing a plan to hold a December 9 election, which would end his hopes of getting Brexit delivered this year.
But he faces a backlash from his own Cabinet and wider party over the move.
The PM is on course to lose tonight’s Commons vote on holding a December 12 election, which is his preferred date because it would have given him time to have another go at passing his Brexit deal through Parliament beforehand.
But No10 has now said it would be open to adopting a plan put forward by the SNP and Lib Dems for holding the election three days earlier - which would leave no time for the PM to bring his Brexit bill back to Parliament.
It would end his hopes of going to the polls having already implemented Brexit.
And several Cabinet ministers are understood to be opposed to the plan, including Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland and Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith.
The UK is still awaiting the EU’s decision on the length of the Brexit extension and a decision could come as early as tonight. Mr Johnson is still holding out hope that EU leaders offer Britain the chance to pass his Brexit bill by November 30 but they are expected to grant an extension until January 31 to allow time for a general election.
Senior Cabinet minister James Cleverly warned publicly that backing the plan by the SNP and Lib Dems - who both want Britain to remain in the EU - would risk making the Tories appear “complicit in them stopping Brexit from happening”.
'COMPLICIT' TORIES
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “What we’re not going to do is we’re not going to listen to two parties who have explicitly said they want to stop Brexit.”
But minutes after their TV interviews a No10 source said: “We can’t allow parliament to waste 2020 the way it has wasted 2019 – the country wants Brexit done so we can move on and focus the public’s priorities.
“Tomorrow MPs will vote on an election on 12 December so we can get a new Parliament.
“If Labour oppose being held to account by the people yet again, then we will look at all options to get Brexit done including ideas similar to that proposed by other opposition parties.”
But there was also dissent at the December 9 plan from senior backbench Tories from both wings of the party.
There are also concerns that the mechanism proposed by the Lib Dems and the SNP would allow the law that enables a December 9 election to be amended with demands to give votes to 16 and 17-year-olds, which would boost the support of opposition parties.
One senior Tory from the One Nation wing said: "An election without having delivered Brexit helps the Lib Dems and Farage - our two main opponents. To say it's risky is an understatement."
A senior member of the hardline Brexiteer ERG group urged No10 to hold out and try to get the Brexit deal delivered before going for an election.
'PENT-UP FRUSTRATION'
They told The Sun: “Beware Greeks bearing gifts. Why are the SNP and Lib Dems doing this - they’re not doing it to help us are they? Swinson wants an election to revoke Article 50, but if we’ve left the EU then that message becomes impotent.
“I can understand our pent-up frustration at failing to get an election but backing the SNP/Lib Dem motion risks getting all sorts of crap attached to it such as votes at 16.
“I’d prefer to just batter Labour in the traditional manner.”
But in a sign of how split the party is over the decision, fellow Tory Brexiteer Nigel Evans urged No10 to back the option of a December 9 election.
He told The Sun: “I’m up for it to be honest, I don’t know why we wouldn’t because it’s only a matter of days and I would think the earlier the better.
“The SNP and Lib Dems want to stop Brexit altogether, Labour want to dilutie it to Brexit in name only, so why don’t we put it back to people with a General Election.
“As long as they’re firm on the date then for goodness sake let’s go for it. So many changes would be made by the Remainers to the WAB and it would look less like a Christmas tree and more like a giraffe. Let’s smoke them out on that and smoke them out on a General Election.
“Let’s get it over and done with.”
In a boost for Mr Johnson’s election hopes, polling guru Sir John Curtice predicted he would win a 40-seat majority in a snap election.
He said the Tories are likely to snatch marginal seats in northern England from Labour due to Jeremy Corbyn’s chaotic Brexit stance.
And in another sign of hope for the Tories, an Opinium poll for the Observer gave the Tories a massive 16-point lead over Labour.
Mr Corbyn’s party was down to just 24 points in the poll, with the Lib Dems on 15 per cent and Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party down on 10 per cent.
This Tory lead is a 3 per cent increase on the same poll conducted a week earlier.
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