Johnson mulls new route to election
DOWNING Street is considering all possible options for securing a General Election, including a plan cooked up by Remain MPs, as the EU considers how long a Brexit extension they will grant the UK.
Parliament will vote on a motion later today which would see a 12 December ballot, but this seems poised to fail for a third time.
Labour, as well as former Tory MPs such as Philip Hammond, are refusing to back the move leaving the government some way short of the two-thirds majority it needs.
But government sources suggested that they would look at a plan hatched by the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party to amend the current law on election scheduling – the Fixed Term Parliaments Act – to allow a poll on 9 December, if the EU grants a Brexit extension to 31 January or later.
Significantly, this method would only need a simple majority in Parliament, meaning Labour would be unable to torpedo the bill without the support of other opposition parties.
Culture secretary Nicky Morgan swatted aside the scheme as a “stunt” yesterday, but a Downing Street source suggested Boris Johnson is taking it seriously.
“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 those proposed by other opposition parties,” they said.
EU ambassadors will meet this morning in Brussels to consider a draft text of a decision to extend the Article 50 period until 31 January 2020. This ‘flextension’ could allow Britain to leave before that date if the Withdrawal Agreement Bill was able to pass through Parliament before the deadline. Some in the EU, notably French President Emmanuel Macron, were believed to favour a shorter extension allowing the bloc to move on from what he sees as the distraction of the UK’s exit.
Johnson used an article in the Sunday Telegraph to accuse MPs of holding the country “hostage” with their refusal to grant Britain an election.
Separately, Johnson’s top aide Dominic Cummings outlined another potential plan to ministerial advisers on Friday evening, should Monday’s vote fail: keep trying until Labour submits. He said: “We will have a vote on an election on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday.”
Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn appeared to rule out backing the Lib Dems’ bill, saying he would be “very happy” to fight an election, but only once the possibility of a no-deal “is totally removed from the equation.” This seems to be an evolution of his previous position that he would be willing to back a ballot once no-deal was “off the table.”
“There will be no pacts with any other party,” he added.
Over the weekend a new Opinium poll put the Conservatives on 40 per cent, a 16 point lead over Corbyn’s Labour.