LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will hold its first December election in almost a century after Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally won parliamentary approval for a gamble on a snap ballot that he hopes will break the deadlock over Brexit.
Just two days before the third Brexit deadline of Oct. 31 will be missed despite Johnson’s “do or die” promise to deliver on the divorce on that date, his bid to hold an election before the end of this year was approved by 438 to 20 votes in the House of Commons.
The first Christmas-season election in Britain since 1923 will be hard to call.
Brexit has variously fatigued and enraged swathes of voters while eroding traditional loyalties to the two major parties, Johnson’s Conservatives and Labour.
“It’s time to unite the country and get Brexit done,” Johnson told a meeting of Conservative lawmakers late on Tuesday shortly after securing an election to cheers from a parliament he said had stopped him delivering Brexit.
Johnson, 55, hopes to win a majority to push through the last-minute Brexit deal he struck this month with the European Union while his main opponent, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, is pitching a radical socialist government and another EU referendum.
The election result will be announced on Friday Dec. 13. If no party wins conclusively, the future of Brexit will be thrown up in the air again with options ranging from a tumultuous no-deal exit to another referendum that could scupper the whole divorce.
Corbyn cast the election as a chance for real change. 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.
“A Labour government will be on your side, while Boris Johnson’s Conservatives – who think they’re born to rule – will only look after the privileged few,” Corbyn, 70, said.
He promised to nationalise rail, water and energy companies while taxing high earners to fund public services.
Conservative lawmaker Robert Halfon said that beside Brexit, domestic issues would play large.
Johnson told lawmakers he was going “to take the argument to Corbyn on One nation policies - spending on schools and hospitals and police... It wasn’t just about Brexit,” Halfon said.
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.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
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 Brexit Party led by Nigel Farage seeks to poach Brexit voters and the Liberal Democrats seeks to win over opponents of Brexit.
“At last the deadlock in parliament is broken. Brexit now has a chance to succeed,” Farage said.
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; ; editing by John Stonestreet
Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri has announced his resignation after 13 days of protests over political corruption and economic turmoil.
His televised address came soon after violence broke out on the streets, when supporters of two Shia groups attacked protest camps and roadblocks in Beirut.
They set tents on fire and beat anti-government demonstrators. Some chanted in support of Nasrallah, the leader for Hezbollah - a powerful force in the coalition government - and the Shia political party Amal.
Riot police and troops responded with tear gas, and by the end of the day, anti-government protesters were back on the streets celebrating Mr Hariri's announcement.
Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri has announced his resignation after 13 days of protests over political corruption and economic turmoil.
His televised address came soon after violence broke out on the streets, when supporters of two Shia groups attacked protest camps and roadblocks in Beirut.
They set tents on fire and beat anti-government demonstrators. Some chanted in support of Nasrallah, the leader for Hezbollah - a powerful force in the coalition government - and the Shia political party Amal.
Riot police and troops responded with tear gas, and by the end of the day, anti-government protesters were back on the streets celebrating Mr Hariri's announcement.
MPs are debating Boris Johnson's call for a general election on 12 December after Labour threw its weight behind a pre-Christmas poll.
Jeremy Corbyn said he had changed his mind on a snap election after the EU gave the UK another Brexit extension
The Labour leader said this took the risk of a no-deal Brexit off the table - his main objection to the PM's plan.
The prime minister can only hold an election with the support of MPs - who have blocked it three times.
He is currently making a fresh attempt to get their backing in Parliament.
MPs are debating a government bill for an early election on 12 December, which requires only a simple majority of one to pass.
Speaking in the Commons, Mr Johnson said it was time to "refresh this Parliament and give the people a choice" about the future of Brexit and the country.
Mr Corbyn said Labour would back any moves by MPs to give 16 and 17-year olds and EU nationals with settled status the right to vote - a move strongly opposed by the government.
"We want the election to involve as many people as possible," he said.
The Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrats want a 9 December poll, saying it would prevent the prime minister from pushing his Brexit deal through Parliament.
No 10 sources have told the BBC they would accept 11 December to get opposition parties on-board - and they have agreed to put Brexit legislation on hold, for now.
Labour has, against the wishes of many of its MPs, shifted to supporting a December election and with that, it means we are on for the first December general election in decades.
The prime minister hopes this will give him a victory at the polls that would allow him rapidly to get his Brexit deal through Parliament and the UK out of the EU.
The Labour leader hopes for a souped-up version of his move forward at the 2017 election that would mean, contrary to the view of many of his own MPs, his project can continue and build.
The Lib Dems and SNP hope for a chance to stop Brexit happening, and expand their own political positions at a junction for the country.
But none of the parties can be remotely sure of what will happen next.
Mr Corbyn was cheered by members of his top team, as he made his announcement at Labour's campaign headquarters in central London.
He said: "I have consistently said that we are ready for an election and our support is subject to a no-deal Brexit being off the table.
"We have now heard from the EU that the extension of Article 50 to 31 January has been confirmed, so for the next three months, our condition of taking no-deal off the table has now been met.
"We will now launch the most ambitious and radical campaign for real change our country has ever seen."
Mr Burgon said Labour would be pushing to get votes for 16 and 17-year-olds, as well as EU nationals so they can have their say.
But he added: "Even if we don't get those things we want, when push comes to shove, we are going to support an election."
However, not all Labour MPs are on board, with Ben Bradshaw saying it was a "bad mistake" and calling instead for another referendum on Brexit.
His fellow backbench MP, Barry Sheerman, tweeted that it was "sheer madness" to hold a December election "on Boris Johnson's agenda".
What is the government's plan?
Mr Johnson will later call on MPs to support a general election for the fourth time since he took office in July.
The PM does not have a majority in Parliament after his decision in September to remove the party whip from more than 20 of his MPs who voted to block a no-deal Brexit, and some defections.
He renewed his call for an election after MPs voted against passing his Brexit bill through Parliament in three days - something that would normally take much longer.
The PM tabled a motion for an election under the Fixed-term Parliament Act on Monday, but under the law it needed the support of two-thirds of all 650 MPs to go through and it only got the backing of 299.
After the vote, Mr Johnson said the "dysfunctional Parliament" was in "paralysis" over Brexit and needed to be replaced "so the country can move on".
The legislation the PM will propose on Tuesday requires a lower threshold for approval - a majority of one - but can be amended by those MPs wanting to add their own conditions to an election - such as a proposal to lower the voting age.
Where do the other parties stand?
The Lib Dems and the SNP want an election on 9 December because they say that will prevent any chance of Mr Johnson bringing back his Brexit bill and getting it approved before Parliament is dissolved.
Both parties want to fight the election on a platform of stopping Brexit entirely.
Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson said: "We need to see the path forward, and if it is not going to be through [another referendum], if there is not the support for [that] in this Parliament, then we need to look at the other way to do that, and right now that is through having a general election."
But one of the party's latest recruits, Heidi Allen, has criticised the position and announced she will not stand in the next election.
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In a letter to her constituents, she wrote: "Brexit has broken our politics and it is my firm belief that only a confirmatory public vote will bring an end to this sorry chapter."
Both The Independent Group for Change, which has five MPs, and Plaid Cymru, which has fourm have said they will vote against an election and instead continue to support a so-called "People's Vote" - or further referendum on Brexit.
Some former Conservatives are also against an election too.
Former Chancellor Philip Hammond - who was expelled from the Conservative parliamentary Party after voting against a no-deal Brexit - said the idea of using "precious time" to hold an election, rather than passing the government's Brexit bill, "frankly appals me".
Mr Hammond told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the real motivation for an election was to "change the shape of the Conservative Party" and to "get rid of a cohort of MPs that it regards as not robust enough" on Brexit.
It is not clear where the Democratic Unionist Party stand yet.
The government is aiming to complete all the Commons stages of the early election bill by the end of the day - a process that normally takes several days.
The Commons backed the programme motion - setting the timetable for the legislation - after MPs changed it to allow backbenchers to amend the bill during its passage.
Opposition MPs, including some who oppose Brexit and others who want the government to pass its Brexit bill before an election, accused ministers of trying to "rig the debate".
A plethora of amendments have now been proposed - including one by Labour's Stephen Doughty that would give the vote to 16 and 17-year olds.
A vote on the second reading of the bill is expected shortly before 1800 GMT - this is the first Commons hurdle - and that will be followed later by a third reading vote.
If MPs back the bill later, then there is almost certain to be a pre-Christmas election, although the legislation will still have to clear the House of Lords.
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President Trump announced on Twitter that the successor to Islamic State terror leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been “terminated by American troops.”
“Just confirmed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s number one replacement has been terminated by American troops. Most likely would have taken the top spot – Now he is also Dead!,” Trump said on Tuesday.
The president didn’t identify who was killed, but reports have said two ISIS members were in line to replace Baghdadi. Abdullah Qardash, known as “The Destroyer,” was believed to be the new No. 1 terrorist.
He had been running day-to-day operations of the terror group and took over Saturday following Baghdadi’s death.
Kurdish forces said Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, who served as a spokesman for the terror group and was thought to be next in line, was killed in a joint operation with American troops late Saturday.
Trump announced Sunday that Baghdadi had blown himself up as he tried to escape US special forces during a raid on his compound in northern Syria near midnight Saturday.
LONDON — The United Kingdom looks to be heading for an early general election days before Christmas, the latest attempt to break the country's Brexit deadlock.
The House of Commons is set to vote Tuesday night on whether to hold an early ballot in mid-December — which would be the country's first general election in that month in almost 100 years.
Leading in the polls, Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants an early election but does not have enough parliamentary power to sign off on this alone.
Hours before the pivotal vote in Parliament, the opposition Labour Party said it would be supporting the bill, meaning it looks very likely to pass.
Oct. 28, 201902:46
Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.
"We will now launch the most ambitious and radical campaign for real change our country has ever seen," Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told a meeting of senior lawmakers, according to a party statement.
Whether an election will be enough to break the paralysis, chaos and uncertainty that is gripping British politics remains to be seen. What's clear is the central campaign issue will be Brexit.
The prime minister says he wants to leave the E.U. as soon as possible and has negotiated his own divorce deal with European negotiators. However many people — including some within his own party — fear his plan is too hard-line.
He was forced to make a major concession this week after failing to pass his deal in Parliament. This meant he broke his promise to leave the E.U. by the deadline of Oct. 31, instead having to ask for an extension of three months.
The Labour Party says it wants to negotiate its own deal and put this back to the people in a second referendum. Corbyn had previously resisted calls for an early election because he said it would allow Johnson to leave Europe without a deal — an extreme scenario that could trigger severe economic pain. The extension scenario means this "no deal" Brexit can't happen until next year at least.
Others such as the Liberal Democrats and Scottish Nationalist Party want to cancel Brexit altogether.
If the Conservatives or Labour were to secure a decisive enough victory, this would in theory give them the green light to push ahead with their agenda on Brexit and other issues. However, another possibility is that the election would return a Parliament just as deadlocked as this one.
If no party wins more than 50 percent of seats, this is known as a "hung Parliament." It's what happened in 2017 and 2010 and usually means parties have to form coalitions in order to govern.
British elections are usually held every five years and in the spring. If approved, this election would be the second inside three years, and the first held in December since 1923.
Alexander Smith
Alexander Smith is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital based in London.
LONDON — The United Kingdom looks to be heading for an early general election days before Christmas, the latest attempt to break the country's Brexit deadlock.
The House of Commons is set to vote Tuesday night on whether to hold an early ballot in mid-December — which would be the country's first general election in that month in almost 100 years.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants an early election but does not have enough parliamentary power to sign off on this alone. Hours before the pivotal vote in Parliament, the the opposition Labour Party said it would be supporting the bill, meaning it looks very likely to pass.
Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.
Oct. 28, 201902:46
"We will now launch the most ambitious and radical campaign for real change our country has ever seen," Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told a meeting of senior lawmakers, according to a party statement.
Whether an election will be enough to break the paralysis, chaos and uncertainty that is gripping British politics remains to be seen. What's clear is the central campaign issue will be Brexit.
The prime minister says he wants to leave the E.U. as soon as possible and has negotiated his own divorce deal with European negotiators. However many lawmakers — including some within his own party — fear his plan is too hardline.
He was forced into a major concession this week after failing to pass his deal in Parliament by Oct. 31. He was forced to ask for an extension to the deadline, which has now been pushed back three months.
The Labour Party says it wants to negotiate its own deal and put this back to the people in a second referendum. Others such as the Liberal Democrats and Scottish Nationalist Party want to cancel Brexit altogether.
British elections are usually held every five years and in the spring. If approved this election would be the second inside three years, and the first held in December since 1923.
Alexander Smith
Alexander Smith is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital based in London.
