The prime minister agrees, in return, to accept an extension of Brexit. Corbyn has announced that it will not support the call until the option of an exit without agreement is ruled out.
Boris Johnson is about to raise the bet next Monday. The prime minister has announced that he is willing to give in and give Parliament more time to process the Brexit agreement reached with the EU, even if that means having to extend the expected date of October 31. In return, he claims that the opposition back him next Monday and approve an advance of the general elections for December 12. "The deputies will thus have as much time as they wish to scrutinize the law, before Parliament is dissolved," Johnson told Sky News. The leader of the Labor Party, Jeremy Corbyn, has announced that he will not support the electoral call until the option of a Brexit without agreement is ruled out.
The prime minister cannot decide for himself an electoral advance. The Law of the Fixed Parliamentary Mandate, passed in 2011, establishes only two ways to achieve it. Either the decision has the backing of two thirds of the House, that is, 432 deputies, or it is the product of a motion of censure that is not followed by an alternative government. On two previous occasions, Parliament has rejected Johnson's attempt to convene the polls.
Circumstances, however, have changed dramatically. London and Brussels have reached an agreement on Brexit , which has been approved by Westminster at first reading. The problem for the Government is that a majority of deputies have forced it to process the bill in conditions, and not in the three hurried days in which it intended to do so. The immediate consequence is that Johnson should accept the extension of the departure date he had resisted so far.
Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn has announced that he will only support the call for elections when the option of a Brexit without agreement is ruled out. Corbyn has been claiming the elections for a year, but a large portion of his training does not consider the timing to be appropriate. The Labor had put as a condition to support an advance that would be definitely secured an extension of Brexit, to avoid a disorderly exit from the EU on October 31. From that guarantee, he said, he would support a call to the polls. Many in their ranks believe that they should give priority to a new referendum. They fear that the low popularity among their leader's voters and Johnson's good moment, with a Brexit agreement under his arm, will shatter them.
If all the conservative deputies supported the proposal of electoral advance on Monday, and they joined the 35 deputies of the Scottish National Party and 19 of the liberal democrats (both formations also call for general elections), about 90 Labor would be enough for the British to come at the polls a few days before the Christmas period begins.
https://elpais.com/internacional/2019/10/24/actualidad/1571934535_424467.html
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