Robert Peston Robert Peston

SNP and Lib Dems join forces to pursue 9 December election

The Scottish National Party and Lib Dems have joined forces to attempt to force a general election in early December, but on a different timetable from that wanted by Boris Johnson and without any further push to see Johnson’s Brexit deal approved by MPs. The Westminster leaders of the two parties, Ian Blackford and Jo Swinson, have adopted a twin track approach.

They have written to the President of the European Union, Donald Tusk, asking for a Brexit delay to 31 January, in line with the terms of the Benn Act, with no provision for an earlier withdrawal from the EU. To provide confidence that this delay will lead to a resolution of the crisis, they are promising to push for a general election within that timetable (see below for the letter).

The second part of the strategy is that the Lib Dems will on Monday put down a bill to amend the Fixed-term Parliaments Act (text

Robert Peston
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Robert Peston
Robert Peston is Political Editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show Peston. His articles originally appeared on his ITV News blog.

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