Lib Dems and SNP offer Boris Johnson early Christmas present of 9 December election
3 min read
The Liberal Democrats and the SNP are joining forces to offer Boris Johnson an early Christmas present of an election on 9 December.
The two parties have tabled a new bill to help the Prime Minister to get round the need for Labour to back his call for a snap ballot.
So far Jeremy Corbyn has said he will not go to the polls until a no-deal Brexit has been “taken off the table”.
The new plan would amend the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, which requires two-thirds of MPs to support the triggering an early election, and would only need a simple majority to pass.
With the combined 54 MPs from the Lib Dems and the SNP, if Mr Johnson supported the legislation he could potentially get it through Parliament this week.
They have written to EU Council President Donald Tusk tasking him to grant a three-month Brexit extension to allow time for the election to take place.
Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson said of the plan: “Boris Johnson has missed his ‘do-or-die’ deadline and is now asking parliament to give him a general election and time for him to ram through his Brexit bill through parliament.
“That is a bad deal, and Liberal Democrats will not vote for it.
“We need to get Boris Johnson out of office, unlock the gridlock in parliament and give people the chance to vote to stay in the EU.
“A general election on our proposed timetable would take no-deal off the table, and give the public the chance to elect a Liberal Democrat government who will revoke article 50 or increase the number of MPs who support a People’s Vote.”
Their preferred timetable is for the bill to be pushed through the Commons and Lords between Tuesday and Thursday of this week, before dissolving Parliament.
It would see an election just three days before the PM’s current proposal of 12 December, but the Lib Dems say that would mean no time for his Brexit deal to become law before an election.
And it would fix the date of any vote, as under the current FTPA rules that would be in his gift, with fears he would push it back past the date of any Article 50 extension to create a no-deal exit by stealth.
The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said: “I’m very keen that we work together on a mechanism, whether that be with Jo’s bill that we will support or any other mechanism – such as a vote of no confidence – to bring parliament to a speedy end and have an election as early as is possible.”
However his colleague, Angus MacNeil tweeted: “I am not getting bounced in to this. Thursday it was ‘madness’ to have a winter election.
“Any election now will be a Proxy Brexit referendum and Hard Brexit could be won in six weeks on only 35% to 40% of the vote!”
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