The government has announced that if today’s election motion fails it will introduce an “almost identical” bill to that which the Lib Dems and SNP were proposing over the weekend for a December 9 election. Awkward for Cleverly and NiMo who were sent onto the Sunday shows to dismiss their idea as an anti-Brexit plot…
The news gives hope to a new path to a pre-January election, as it looks tonight’s vote – under the terms of the Fixed Term Parliament Act and therefore requiring a 2/3rds majority – will fail, with Labour set to vote against it.
If presented tomorrow, the bill will require a mere majority to pass. With the Conservatives, Spartan Tories, SNP and Lib Dems, Parliament looks set to back the December 9th election with a majority of 19. It waits to be seen how Corbyn wriggles out of this one…
UPDATE: Labour to abstain on tonight’s vote. The Daily Mirror report:
NEW: I’m told that Labour’s shadow cabinet:
– agreed to ABSTAIN on election vote under FTPA tonight
– recognise a single line bill is likely to PASS anyway with Tory/ SNP/ LD support
– believe Labour MPs “aren’t in a good place” on GE and will refuse to vote for it.— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) October 28, 2019
Comments are closed