UK prepares for Commons vote on election
October 29, 2019
British lawmakers are preparing to vote for early elections on Tuesday after opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told his top team of policy advisers that he would back a December general election.
Corbyn said the reversal came now that the prospect of a no-deal Brexit with the European Union had been taken off the table.
"I have consistently said that we are ready for an election and our support is subject to a no deal Brexit being off the table," he told his shadow cabinet, according to his office.
"We have now heard from the EU that the extension of Article 50 to 31st January has been confirmed, so for the next three months, our condition of taking no deal off the table has now been met. We will now launch the most ambitious and radical campaign for real change our country has ever seen," Corbyn said.
Labour and other opposition MPs did, however, resist a government attempt to pass a bill triggering an election without the chance for debate or potential amendments. This set the stage for a debate in the House of Commons on plans for a vote later on Tuesday.
Electorate expansion falls flat
Two of the biggest proposed amendments provisionally failed to make it to a vote. They were both aimed at expanding the electorate: one by granting voting rights to 16- and 17-year-old citizens, and the other by granting it to EU citizens living in the UK with "settled status." The amendments would have created millions of new eligible voters in a demographic that leans toward the opposition and remaining in the EU.
Corbyn said he supported both proposals, while government officials said they were against them.
The proposed amendment to change the election date to December 9 is provisionally set for debate.
Read more: Opinion: Brexit show extended for another season
Date of vote also in question
The government wants a vote on December 12. However, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party favor a date of December 9. A compromise date of December 10 or 11 has also been suggested.
Some opposition lawmakers are concerned that the December 12 date would give Johnson enough time to push through a Brexit under his terms before that date.
If the election passes through parliament, it will be the first December election in the UK since 1923.
Read more: Will the UK hold snap elections?
Fourth time's a charm?
Johnson's previous three motions for early elections had earlier failed in the Parliament's lower chamber, the House of Commons. On Monday, the 299-70 vote fell short of the two-thirds majority Johnson needed for the motion to pass after most Labour MPs abstained.
The British leader has repeatedly demanded an election to end what he casts as a nightmare parliamentary paralysis that is sapping public trust by preventing any Brexit outcome at all.
In an effort to motivate the opposition to approve an early vote, the government said on Monday it would delay consideration of the EU withdrawal deal until after the election. The EU on Monday agreed to extend the Brexit deadline for a third time to January 31.
Johnson, who said just weeks ago that he would "rather be dead in a ditch" than postpone the UK's departure date past October 31, was forced to seek the extension on Parliament's orders to avoid a no-deal Brexit.
Meanwhile, outgoing European Council President Donald Tusk on Tuesday confirmed that an extension of the EU exit date had been formally adopted by the other 27 member states. He also pointedly warned against further procrastination, saying it "may be the last one." In the event of the EU losing patience with the UK altogether, a no-deal Brexit can follow automatically, whatever is decided or ruled upon in the UK.
ls/msh (Reuters, AP, dpa)