Britain set for December 12 election to break the Brexit deadlock

By Guy Faulconbridge, Elizabeth Piper and William James

 

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seen on Downing Street in London, Britain October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will hold its first December election in almost a century after Prime Minister Boris Johnson won approval from parliament on Tuesday for an early ballot aimed at breaking the Brexit deadlock.

 

After the European Union granted a third delay to the divorce that was originally supposed to take place on March 29, the United Kingdom, its parliament and its electorate remain divided on how, or indeed whether, to go ahead with Brexit.

 

Johnson, who had promised to deliver Brexit on Oct. 31 "do or die", demanded a Dec. 12 election after parliament - where he has no majority - frustrated his attempts to ratify the last-minute divorce deal he struck with the EU earlier this month.

 

In a rare parliamentary success for Johnson after a string of defeats, his short bill calling for a Dec. 12 election was approved 438 to 20 in the House of Commons. The bill now goes to the House of Lords.

 

"It's time to unite the country and get Brexit done," Johnson said after meeting Conservative Party lawmakers who cheered him.

Before the vote, Johnson had said parliament was obstructing Brexit and thus damaging the economy by preventing investment decisions, and corroding faith in democracy.

 

Britain was heading toward its first December election in almost a century after Prime Minister Boris Johnson's bet on breaking the Brexit deadlock with an early ballot gained support from opposition parties on Tuesday. Rough cut (no reporter narration).

 

The first Christmas election in Britain since 1923 would be highly unpredictable: Brexit has variously fatigued and enraged swathes of voters while eroding traditional loyalties to the two major parties, Conservative and Labour.

 

Some politicians feel an election so close to Christmas could irritate voters, while campaigning and getting voters out could be hampered by cold winter weather and darkness setting in by mid-afternoon.

 

Ultimately, the electorate will have a choice between an emboldened Johnson pushing for his Brexit deal or a socialist government under Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn renegotiating the deal before another referendum.

 

The election result will be announced in the early hours of Friday the 13th. If no party wins conclusively, the Brexit deadlock would continue.

 

CHRISTMAS ELECTION

After four years of arguing over Brexit, almost all British politicians now agree an election is needed to break the cycle of inaction that has shocked allies of a country once considered a bastion of stable Western capitalism and democracy.

 

An election, though, could decide the fate of Brexit as well as the main players - Johnson, 55, and his rival Corbyn, 70.

 

When Johnson's predecessor, Theresa May, bet on an early election in 2017, she lost her slender majority - a failure that ultimately prevented her from ratifying her Brexit deal in parliament and sank her political career.

 

Johnson's Conservatives are ahead of Labour by an average of about 10 percentage points in polls this month, though pollsters underestimated the support for Brexit in 2016 and admit that the models they use are wilting beside the Brexit furnace.

 

Both major parties will have to fight on at least three fronts: against each other while the hardline Brexit Party led by Nigel Farage seeks to poach Brexit voters and the Liberal Democrats seeks to win over opponents of Brexit.

 

"This will probably be the most unpredictable election I have ever known," Anand Menon, director of The UK in a Changing Europe, told Reuters.

"Is it Brexit or is it not? We don't know. Second, the election is as volatile as ever and, thirdly, the potential for tactical voting - and tactical voting to go wrong - is very high given the Leave-Remain split," he said.

 

BREXIT UP IN THE AIR

Labour swung behind an election earlier on Tuesday.

 

"I'm ready for it," Corbyn told parliament. He frames Labour as a socialist alternative to the inequality and close relations with U.S. President Donald Trump that he says characterise Johnson's premiership. "Change is coming."

 

As Johnson moved closer to an election than he has ever been in his tumultuous three-month premiership, the EU granted a Brexit delay to Jan. 31 but warned it might be the last.

 

"The EU27 has formally adopted the extension. It may be the last one. Please make the best use of this time," outgoing European Union Chairman Donald Tusk said on Twitter.

 

Among voters, there was some relief that the Brexit debate might be ending soon.

 

"We've just got to bring this to some sort of resolution," commuter Matt Finch, 36, said outside London's Charing Cross rail station on Tuesday. "We've had many votes in the last 12 months in parliament and I think a general election might be a way to sort it all out."

 

(Additional reporting by Kylie MacLellan, Paul Sandle, Helena Williams, Andrew MacAskill, Costas Pitas, Alistair Smout, Mike Collett-White and Kate Holton in London and Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Janet Lawrence, Mark Heinrich, Dan Grebler, David Clarke and Mike Collett-White)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-10-30

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"It's time to unite the country and get Brexit done," Johnson said.

 

Yes mate, & tomorrow is.....?

33 minutes ago, webfact said:

Ultimately, the electorate will have a choice between an emboldened Johnson pushing for his Brexit deal or a socialist government under Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn renegotiating the deal before another referendum.

Wow.

 

I truly feel sad for my British friends if your choices are either Johnson or Corbyn.

 

Future historians will promote this era in UK politics as a warning to politicians on the dangers of incompetent government, a lack of a genuine Democracy, and the folly of implementing huge public policy decisions without the populace behind the government.

 

I have said it before and will say it again;

 

Never before have I seen a country do utterly determined to shoot itself in the crotch

 

 

 

I like their confidence in being able to break the deadlock. Another hung parliament is quite likely and then back to square one.

 

A GE is the least effective way of sorting Brexit out. Might as well toss a coin.

Election, then a new referendum where common sense prevails and this whole Brexit saga will be reduced to a footnote in history books.

2 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Election, then a new referendum where common sense prevails and this whole Brexit saga will be reduced to a footnote in history books.

Would have made more sense to have the referendum 1st, get Brexit out of the way and then have a GE on the real issues. But ho hum.

21 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

I like their confidence in being able to break the deadlock. Another hung parliament is quite likely and then back to square one.

That is one possibility. But what I see happening is Boris winning a majority, and the left (yet again) refusing to give losers consent, just as they have been doing since 2016. And then all sorts of mayhem will be unleashed. Hope I am wrong and that they will start respecting democratic principles.

 

right,

an opprtunity for UK show that she is serious, the GE IS

 

will she grab it and ensure a properly composed HoC, we'll see

 

2 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

That is one possibility. But what I see happening is Boris winning a majority, and the left (yet again) refusing to give losers consent, just as they have been doing since 2016. And then all sorts of mayhem will be unleashed. Hope I am wrong and that they will start respecting democratic principles.

Complete nonsense again. If the Conservatives win a clear majority, they will be able to push through whatever form of brexit they want, unopposed. Clearly you dont understand how parliamentary democracy in the UK works.

 

If you want opinions, here's mine: In the event of a Conservative majority: Johnson tries to run down the clock again, without the bill passing and gets his wish for a no deal Brexit on January 31st. Calling a December election helps that plan. If the bill passes, we leave the EU and have two years to agree to a trade deal. Johnson will deliberately screw that up and we are out of the EU with no deal. A win win for Johnson and his backers who have laid big money on the British economy crashing. The bigger the crash, the more they make.

29 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Election, then a new referendum where common sense prevails and this whole Brexit saga will be reduced to a footnote in history books.

the referendum has been done, move on 

26 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

Would have made more sense to have the referendum 1st, get Brexit out of the way and then have a GE on the real issues. But ho hum.

see post above

30 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

I like their confidence in being able to break the deadlock. Another hung parliament is quite likely and then back to square one.

 

A GE is the least effective way of sorting Brexit out. Might as well toss a coin.

what other way is there, MP's are a bunch of kids lets have some fresh faces. and then lets say good bye to the federal states of greater Germany

44 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Election, then a new referendum where common sense prevails and this whole Brexit saga will be reduced to a footnote in history books.

Common sense prevailed in 2016 but not so 'losers consent' ????

A General Election.

 

 Hmm, I know, we could call it "the peoples vote!"

 

Of course, if it produces the "wrong result" no doubt it will be claimed that it was " only advisory"...

54 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

what I see happening is Boris winning a majority, and the left (yet again) refusing to give losers consent, just as they have been doing since 2016.

And based on what laws exactly would that be possible? 

 

 

5 minutes ago, JAG said:

if it produces the "wrong result" no doubt it will be claimed that it was " only advisory"...

And based on what laws exactly would that be possible? 

Johnson taking a huge gamble, although the bookmakers have him down for a majority ... but that will depend on getting traditional Labour voters in the North of England voting for him to make up for losses in Scotland to SNP and in England to the Lib Dem’s. 

 

I think the bookies are wrong ... we’re heading for a hung parliament followed by a second referendum. Still life in the old Brexit dog yet!

1 hour ago, evadgib said:

Common sense prevailed in 2016 but not so 'losers consent' ????

In 2016 people voted Leave by a small majority. In 2017 “the people” chose the MP’s they tasked with deciding what form “leave” takes ... and they couldn’t. 

57 minutes ago, JAG said:

 

Of course, if it produces the "wrong result" no doubt it will be claimed that it was " only advisory"...

 

52 minutes ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

 

And based on what laws exactly would that be possible? 

Note I said claimed, not declared. Not a legal decision, an opinion or claim which I (cynically) suggest will be expressed. Therefore not based on any laws, but on the events since 2016!

1 hour ago, evadgib said:

Common sense prevailed in 2016 but not so 'losers consent' ????

You mean common sense scraped by in 2016?

If so, the UK should have honored that vote and left shortly after.

Time and a lot of information have moved on. It is now 2019, in fact nearly 2020. Let all the new young voters have a say.

2 hours ago, DannyCarlton said:

I like their confidence in being able to break the deadlock. Another hung parliament is quite likely and then back to square one.

 

A GE is the least effective way of sorting Brexit out. Might as well toss a coin.

400 seats for the Tories INCOMING!

Labour will struggle to get 150 seats

1 hour ago, DannyCarlton said:

Complete nonsense again. If the Conservatives win a clear majority, they will be able to push through whatever form of brexit they want, unopposed. Clearly you dont understand how parliamentary democracy in the UK works.

 

If you want opinions, here's mine: In the event of a Conservative majority: Johnson tries to run down the clock again, without the bill passing and gets his wish for a no deal Brexit on January 31st. Calling a December election helps that plan. If the bill passes, we leave the EU and have two years to agree to a trade deal. Johnson will deliberately screw that up and we are out of the EU with no deal. A win win for Johnson and his backers who have laid big money on the British economy crashing. The bigger the crash, the more they make.

A win win for Johnson and his backers who have laid big money on the British economy crashing

 

Utter BS, there are much easier ways to make money than this Brexit debacle.

Anybody who thinks like this is absolutely clueless about finance.

Not everybody has this miserable outlook like the re moan ers

 

I had to split re moan ers up as it was deemed to be a 'deleted' word. What the <deleted> has happened to censorship on this forum

Johnson and his ERG mates want a no deal Brexit. They are going to dupe millions of people to vote for them so that they can avoid tax evasion and avoidance rules being brought in by the EU.

If Johnson wanted to leave with a deal why has he not progressed his own deal which was voted FOR by parliament? 

If you vote Conservative or Brexit Company at the next election then hell mend you all. You will get what you deserve. 

10 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

They are going to dupe millions of people to vote for them so that they can avoid tax evasion and avoidance rules being brought in by the EU.

I'm sure you have a credible source to back up your fallacious, defamatory, and absurd conspiracy theory? Right??

Commie Corbyn must be desperate as he tried to give 16 year olds and EU nationals the vote. Giving foreigners the vote, how insane is that? Labour suporters will still vote back loonies like Abbott and perverts like Vaz, if they put a labour sticker on a donkey some would still vote for it

3 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

Wow.

 

I truly feel sad for my British friends if your choices are either Johnson or Corbyn.

 

Future historians will promote this era in UK politics as a warning to politicians on the dangers of incompetent government, a lack of a genuine Democracy, and the folly of implementing huge public policy decisions without the populace behind the government.

 

I have said it before and will say it again;

 

Never before have I seen a country do utterly determined to shoot itself in the crotch

 

 

 

Agree. There should have been a referendum before we joined the EEC.

9 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

Commie Corbyn must be desperate as he tried to give 16 year olds and EU nationals the vote. Giving foreigners the vote, how insane is that? Labour suporters will still vote back loonies like Abbott and perverts like Vaz, if they put a labour sticker on a donkey some would still vote for it

Some, yes.

49 minutes ago, AlexRich said:

In 2016 people voted Leave by a small majority. In 2017 “the people” chose the MP’s they tasked with deciding what form “leave” takes ... and they couldn’t. 

On 23 June 2016, the recorded result was that the UK voted to leave the European Union by 51.89% for Leave to 48.11% for Remain, a margin of 3.78%. This corresponded to 17,410,742 votes to leave and 16,141,241 to remain, a margin of 1,269,501 votes

 

This was the biggest voter turnout in UK history. In a Democracy the majority vote wins.

 

Until somebody comes up with a better solution, this is how Democracy works, the winner takes it all, LEAVE won and they won hands down by a margin of 4%.

22 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

Johnson and his ERG mates want a no deal Brexit. They are going to dupe millions of people to vote for them so that they can avoid tax evasion and avoidance rules being brought in by the EU.

If Johnson wanted to leave with a deal why has he not progressed his own deal which was voted FOR by parliament? 

If you vote Conservative or Brexit Company at the next election then hell mend you all. You will get what you deserve. 

Sounds like wabid wemainer speak to me. What's up doc?

1 hour ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

You mean common sense scraped by in 2016?

If so, the UK should have honored that vote and left shortly after.

Time and a lot of information have moved on. It is now 2019, in fact nearly 2020. Let all the new young voters have a say.

You know full well what i meant but lets leave it at that.

If U18s become eligible spare a thought for the voting aged taxpayers worldwide who remain (no pun intended) disenfranchised by the '15 year' nonsense that has hamstrung millions since the 80s.

 

("No taxation..." an' all that ????  )

 

Overseas Electors Bill 2017-19

59 minutes ago, AlexRich said:

Johnson taking a huge gamble, although the bookmakers have him down for a majority ... but that will depend on getting traditional Labour voters in the North of England voting for him to make up for losses in Scotland to SNP and in England to the Lib Dem’s. 

 

I think the bookies are wrong ... we’re heading for a hung parliament followed by a second referendum. Still life in the old Brexit dog yet!

May called a snap election in 2017 confident in increasing her majority. She had a 20 point lead in the polls and lost her majority. Currently johnson has a 16 point lead in the polls and no majority.

 

I believe that there are a few more arias to be sung before the fat lady sings.

 

 

3 hours ago, DannyCarlton said:

Would have made more sense to have the referendum 1st, get Brexit out of the way and then have a GE on the real issues. But ho hum.

No it wouldn't make more sense, since Remainers don't accept the result of Referendums unless they win, so we need a General Election to remove them from Parliament and replace them with individuals who respect Democracy.