Will an election be called this week? That’s the growing expectation among Conservative MPs. Later today the government will hold a vote on an early election for December 12 under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act. To pass, Boris Johnson needs two thirds of MPs to back him. However, this is very unlikely – with Labour MPs planning to abstain and both the Lib Dems and SNP opposing on the grounds that Johnson’s plan would see his government bring the Withdrawal Agreement Bill back to the Commons before going to the polls.
Instead, there is a sense that Tuesday could see a pre-Christmas election agreed upon. Over the weekend, the Liberal Democrats and SNP said that they hoped to table a one line bill for an election on 9 December – on the grounds that there would be no vote on Johnson’s Brexit deal before this.
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