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Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on Thursday for a general election on Dec. 12 to break Britains Brexit impasse, a goal the leader has sought but so far failed to push through parliament.
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Johnson said in a letter to opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn he would hand parliament more time to approve his Brexit deal but that lawmakers must back a December election, Johnsons third attempt to try to force a snap poll.
Just a week before Britain was due to leave the European Union, the bloc looked set to grant Johnson a Brexit delay, something he has repeatedly said he does not want but was forced to request by the countrys divided parliament.
An election is seen by his team as the only way of breaking the deadlock over Brexit after parliament voted in favour of his deal, but then, just minutes later, rejected his preferred timetable which would have met his Oct. 31 deadline.
But he has twice failed before to win the votes in parliament for an election, where he needs the support of two-thirds of its 650 lawmakers. The main opposition Labour Party has repeatedly said it will only back an election when it is sure that he cannot lead Britain out of the EU without a deal.
“We will make available all possible time between now and 6 November for the WAB (Withdrawal Agreement Bill) to be discussed and voted through … this means we could get Brexit done before the election on 12 December,” Johnson wrote in a letter to Corbyn, posted on Twitter.
“But if parliament refuses to take this chance and fails to ratify by the end of 6 November, as I fear it will, then the issue will have to be resolved by a new parliament.”
More than three years after voting 52%-48% to be the first sovereign country to leave the European project, the future of Brexit is as unclear as ever with Britain still debating when, how or even whether it should go ahead.
Johnson won the top job in July by staking his career on getting Brexit done by Oct. 31, though he is almost certain to fail to do that after parliament defeated his proposed legislative timetable on Tuesday.
Several of his aides think he can weather any criticism for failing to meet the deadline at an election by arguing that he was thwarted by lawmakers, doubling down on his pre-election narrative pitting the “people versus the parliament”.
At a meeting of his political cabinet of top ministers, there was disagreement over whether the government should try for an early election, fearing that going to the polls before Brexit was settled might damage the governing Conservatives.
But, with another Brexit delay in the offing, local media reported there was eventual agreement that a new election was the only way forward to try to re-set the parliament, which voted down Johnsons predecessors deal three times.
Labour has long said it cannot back an election until a so-called no deal Brexit is off the table. But if the EU grants an extension until the end of January, that would appear to remove the threat of Johnson taking Britain out of the bloc without an agreement.
Leave with Johnsons deal
Earlier, a senior Downing Street source said Britain would ultimately leave the EU with Johnsons deal despite the likely additional delay, with the EU considering offering London a three-month flexible Brexit extension.
“This ends with us leaving with the PMs deal,” the Downing Street source said on conRead More – Source
