EXPLAINED: Boris Johnson wants to call an election, but how can he actually do it?
4 min read
After MPs voted down his bid to get a Brexit deal passed by 31 October, Downing Street said he would go for an election if the EU offers a three month-long extension to Article 50.
The Prime Minister has paused the passage of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill while the EU considers its next move..
Mr Johnson said in the House of Commons on Tuesday that if they offer a delay to Brexit until January 2020, which under the terms of the Benn Act he has no choice but to accept, he wants to go to the polls before the end of 2019.
Here are the three ways he can do that:
FTPA MOTION
Until the Coalition years, there were several different ways an administration could be brought down. A government could either designate something as a “matter of confidence”, meaning defeat would be a resigning matter for the Prime Minister, or “confidence” could be implied in big set-piece votes like the Queen’s Speech or the Budget. Lose those, and an election was inevitable.
But these mechanisms relied on convention, which David Cameron sought to codify in the much-maligned 2011 Fixed Term Parliaments Act (FTPA).
That set out that an election would be held every five years, and could only be brought forward if a specific motion under the Act is tabled and two-thirds of MPs must vote for it.
Theresa May was the first PM to use that mechanism when she called the 2017 election, and her successor has already tried this method twice, on 4 and 9 September.
But unlike his predecessor, Mr Johnson failed to persuade the Commons of the merits of his argument, falling well short of the necessary threshold of 434 votes.
To win at the third attempt, he will need the backing of the Labour party, which has so far refused to back an election until a no-deal Brexit has been ruled out.
But with the passing of the Benn Act and an extension to Article 50 set to be agreed by the EU, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn has to decide if he can continue to block an election after calling for one for so long.
Although the Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon says his party would be willing to have an election in those circumstances, Mr Corbyn may still decide the threat of no-deal is there and whip his MPs against an FTPA motion.
If he does so then Mr Johnson will have to move on to Plan B.
A ONE-LINE BILL
This method would require the Government to table a short piece of legislation whose only function is to call an election, by using the wording “notwithstanding the Fixed-Term Parliament Act” to supersede the existing law.
The upside to this for the PM is it would only require a simple majority in the Commons to pass, which he is much more likely to win.
But the downside is that while the FTPA motion is airtight and unamendable, trying to pass a one-line is fraught with danger.
The legislation could be amended by both Houses of Parliament, and MPs have already said they would seek to attach clauses such as lowering the voting age to 16. Given the Government's lack of a majority, there would be a reasonable chance that such ambushes would be successful.
And while under the FTPA the date of an election is guaranteed, polling day in a one-line bill could also be altered, taking the power out of the PM’s hands.
CONFIDENCE MOTION
The third and final option open to him is a motion of no confidence in the Government.
Under the FTPA this can only be called by the leader of the official opposition, in this case Jeremy Corbyn, so it would also require the backing of Labour.
However, the Government has previously said it would waive that convention and makeparliamentary time available for a confidence motion tabled by one of the smaller parties.
Again it would require only a simple majority, but once passed it sets off a 14-day limbo period where the Prime Minister or someone else can try and form a new government.
This has never been attempted before, and the Institute for Government say it is “not at all clear what it is meant to achieve”.
At the end of the two week period, if no alternative administration has been formed that can command the confidence of the Commons, an election takes place 25 working days after the dissolution of Parliament.
Those are the Prime Ministers options. Which, if any, will he choose?
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