Boris Johnson fails in third attempt to call early general election
Johnson falls short of two-thirds parliamentary majority required to call snap poll
Boris Johnson has lost his third bid for a general election, after Labour abstained and he failed to reach the two-thirds majority of MPs he needed for a poll.
THE RESULT WAS 299 FOR AND 70 AGAINST.
Boris Johnson is now expected to back a Liberal Democrat plan to change the law in order to secure an early election, although the parties do not yet agree on a date.
The Lib Dems want a date of 9 December while students are still at university, but the Tories favour 12 December after some have broken up for Christmas.
Jeremy Corbyn, suggested the Labour Party could also back the Lib Dem plan after coming under pressure to back an early poll. The party has been saying that it cannot support an election until a no-deal Brexit is removed as a risk.
“We will consider carefully any legislation on an early election,” he said, adding that a date needed to be locked down in law to prevent Johnson trying to move it for his own advantage.
Corbyn also suggested he would want it to be earlier than 12 December, before students have broken up for the winter holiday, saying any plan would need to “protect the voting rights of all of our citizens”.
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