Brexit extension announced as Boris Johnson pushes for December election

The debate is heating up. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said the theme of Monday’s vote was that “nobody trusts the government.”

Corbyn said Labour can see the need for an early election, but doesn’t think December is the right time for Brits to head to the polls.

Corbyn specifically mentioned student voters, saying that the timing of the proposed election – just before their Christmas vacation is due to begin – risks disenfranchising them.

The Labour leader also suggested that a winter election could prevent older and disabled voters from casting their votes.

Boris Johnson accuses lawmakers on the Opposition benches of attempting to “frustrate” Brexit.

“We have an excellent deal … and we will be campaigning on the basis of that deal,” he says in response to a point of order from a DUP lawmaker. That party – once Johnson’s partner in a minority government – opposes Johnson’s deal, which puts a customs border in the Irish Sea.

“I think the Leader of the Opposition has now run out of excuses,” he adds, referencing Jeremy Corbyn’s previous reasoning for opposing an election.

“I hope he accepts tonight that he is snookered and that this charade has gone on long enough,” Johnson adds, calling for the Labour party to have the “courage” to face the electorate.

Boris Johnson is addressing Parliament, making a pitch to lawmakers for a snap general election.

“Nobody in this House relishes the idea of a general election,” he says, admitting a poll would be “inconvenient” – especially over the holiday season.

“But across the country, there is a widespread view that this Parliament has run its course,” he adds.

“I simply do not believe that this House is capable of delivering on the priorities of the people.”

Johnson then strays from his previous pledges to “get Brexit done,” saying instead that he “would rather get Brexit done” – to a mixture of cheers and jeers from the opposing benches.

Boris Johnson’s push for an election on Thursday December 12 looks doomed to fail tonight.

With the Labour Party set to oppose the push, Johnson won’t get close to the two-thirds majority of MPs needed to force an early poll.

But he’ll be handed a reprieve tomorrow, with the Liberal Democrats and the SNP set to support a one-line bill, which would overrule the current Fixed Term Parliaments Act and need a simple majority to pass.

The Lib Dems’ plan is for a Monday December 9 election, and there is speculation that Downing Street may try to force the poll into the middle of the week – perhaps Tuesday December 10 or Wednesday December 11.

But why does any of this matter? What difference does a couple of days make?

Well, though the parties aren’t publicly delving into the reasons behind their preferences, there are a few conclusions that can be drawn.

It seems clear, for example, that Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP would prefer an earlier date to help them attract the student vote. Most university terms end the week of the proposed election, meaning young people registered to vote in their college towns will have gone home for the holidays.

Jeremy Corbyn’s surprising surge at the 2017 election had much to do with the student vote, with Labour outperforming expectations in university towns across the country. In an interview with ITV on Friday, he admitted that the student factor was one of the reasons he opposed the government’s proposed date.

And with young people far more likely to oppose Brexit and support left-leaning parties, opposition parties would be far more likely to want to boost their vote than the government.

Another cause for concern across all parties is the proximity of the election date to Christmas Day. It’s a tougher sell than usual to get voters to the polls on a cold, dark December evening in the middle of a busy social period.

So expect some squabbles over exactly when a vote will take place over the next few hours, as the country inches towards a pre-Christmas poll.

Businesses in the United Kingdom have already endured more than three years of Brexit uncertainty.

Now, as the third deadline to leave the European Union zooms by, companies are left to grapple with a profoundly unpredictable domestic political situation that will further erode business investment.

Companies had been cautiously optimistic that Prime Minister Boris Johnson would remove the immediate threat of a disorderly break with the European Union by pushing his Brexit deal through UK Parliament ahead of the latest October 31 exit deadline.

He failed to secure approval, instead seeking another extension from Brussels while demanding a UK general election on December 12.

A completed deal on Brexit, even one that harmed the economy by erecting new trade barriers between Britain and its largest export market, would have provided businesses with some of the policy certainty they have been craving.

That, in turn, might have encouraged CEOs to start spending more money on equipment, factory upgrades and expansions that have been delayed because of uncertainty over Brexit.

Read more about Brexit’s impact on business here.

Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, has written a Twitter thread outlining why her party is backing an early general election.

“Firstly, we have to ask ourselves what the alternative is,” Sturgeon writes. “Doing nothing allows Johnson to get his bad deal through (with Lab support) or, even worse, run down clock to end January when no deal becomes a real risk all over again.”

She notes that Johnson would rather contest an election “with Brexit already ‘delivered,’” but that the SNP’s plan would force him to fight one having failed to keep his “do or die” promise on Brexit.

The irony is that the SNP and Liberal Democrats’ plan could throw Johnson a lifeline, allowing him to secure an election even if Labour block his attempt later.

Ahead of the vote on his attempt to secure an early election later, Boris Johnson has made a written statement to the House of Commons.

He confirms that if his plan succeeds, Parliament would dissolve after November 6 for the election campaign.

Johnson adds that the new Parliament would meet before Christmas, giving it some extra time to deal with Brexit before the new year – and the new January 31 deadline.

Splits between opposition parties about how to tackle Boris Johnson’s Brexit strategy began to emerge over the weekend, when the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party unveiled a plan to secure a general election in spite of Labour’s resistance.

Now, after presenting a rare united front for weeks in the face of Johnson’s attempts, those divisions are being laid bare.

Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson has hit out at Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who had accused Swinson’s bloc of re-igniting their David Cameron-led coalition with the Conservatives.

The divisions echo those in the official People’s Vote campaign, which has descended into civil war this morning after Roland Rudd, the chairmen of one of the groups making up the organization, tried to oust two of its key figures.

And, more significantly, they signal just how isolated Labour has become by continuing to block Johnson’s attempts to force an election.

The party will be able to deny the Prime Minister a poll later on Monday if it remains united in that stance, but risks having an election thrust upon them later in the week if the Lib Dems’ plan passes Parliament – which could lead to an awkward narrative as the party begins a six-week campaign.

Guy Verhofstadt, the EU Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, has tweeted that he’s relieved “no one died in a ditch” – a reference to Boris Johnson’s insistence that he’d rather find himself in such a predicament than request another extension.

But Verhofstadt also indicated that the EU’s patience is wearing thinner still, and that this delay could be the last one they grant.

“The uncertainty of Brexit has gone on for far too long,” he wrote.

The Scottish National Party’s Westminster leader has called for a general election after the European Union approved a Brexit delay.

The SNP is crucial to Boris Johnson’s push for a poll. The party had previously backed Labour in blocking his attempts, but is now ready to support the Prime Minister’s request along with the Liberal Democrats.