Johnson fails in bid to force election; Ireland would support extension to achieve Brexit deal

Embattled British prime minister Boris Johnson’s bid for a general election on October 15 failed last night after MPs passed legislation blocking a no-deal Brexit.

In yet another day of high drama and farce at Westminster, Mr Johnson suffered further humiliation after a bill designed to prevent a no-deal Brexit cleared the Commons by a majority of 28.

Immediately, the prime minister, who has lost three votes in two days, told MPs that the country must go to the polls next month to decide who to send to Brussels to “sort this out”.

He needed two-thirds of MPs to back his position to succeed but his motion failed to meet that threshold, after Labour and the Scottish Nationalists abstained.

“I think it’s very sad that MPs have voted like this, I do, I think it’s a great dereliction of their democratic duty. But if I’m still prime minister after Tuesday, October 15, then we will leave on October 31 with, I hope, a much better deal,” said Mr Johnson.

MPs approved a backbench bill to delay Brexit in order to prevent a no-deal withdrawal from the EU on October 31 after Mr Johnson suffered further parliamentary defeats yesterday.

It cleared the Commons when it passed its third reading by 327 votes to 299, a majority of 28.

The House of Commons vote occurred after Tánaiste Simon Coveney said Ireland would back an extension were it to help arrive at a deal.

“In relation to an extension, if there is an extension looked for, I think whichever prime minister asks for that will need to make a persuasive case as to how that extension can be used to get a deal,” said the Tánaiste.

Having lost the vote, Mr Johnson said “there must now be an election on Tuesday, October 15” after legislation designed to prevent a no-deal Brexit cleared the Commons.

“The country must now decide whether the leader of the opposition, or I, go to those negotiations in Brussels on the 17th October to sort this out.

“Because everybody will know that if (Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn) were to be the prime minister, he would beg for an extension, he would accept whatever Brussels demands, and we would then have years more dither and delay, yet more arguments over Brexit and no resolution to the uncertainty that currently bedevils this country and our economy,” he said.

Mr Johnson put pressure on Mr Corbyn to get Labour to back a vote for an early general election. He said Mr Corbyn is “the first leader of the opposition in the democratic history of our country to refuse the invitation to an election”.

Mr Johnson said: “He has demanded an election for two years while blocking Brexit.

“He said only two days ago that he would support an election and now parliament, having passed a bill that destroys the ability of government to negotiate, is he now going to say that the public can’t be allowed an election to decide which of us sorts out this mess?”

He continued:

“I don’t want an election, the public don’t want an election, the country doesn’t want an election, but this House has left no other option than letting the public decide who they want as prime minister.”

Mr Corbyn said the EU (Withdrawal) (No 6) Bill must be passed through the House of Lords and have received royal assent before he will entertain the thought of a general election.

He said: “Let the bill pass and have royal assent and then we can have a general election.”

Mr Corbyn likened Mr Johnson’s offer of a general election on October 15 to “the offer of a poisoned apple to Snow White by a wicked queen”.

He added: “The prime minister says he has a strategy but he can’t say what it is and can’t tell the EU either — the truth is that there really is nothing there.”