British Parliament rejects PM Boris Johnson's proposal to hold general election next month

London, September 5: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced a double defeat in the House of Commons yesterday after MPs turned down his motion for a general election on October 15. The motion calling for the vote fell far short of the required 434 supermajorities to pass. After the vote went badly against Johnson, he chided opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

 

Earlier, MPs backed a bill aimed at blocking a no-deal Brexit, if the Prime Minister hadn't agreed on a plan with the EU ahead of the 31 October deadline. Both the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats also criticized the Prime Minister's motion as a plot to make sure the UK left the EU without a deal.

Rejecting the government's demands for an election, opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn compared it to "an offer of an apple to Snow White from the Wicked Queen... offering the poison of a no-deal."

Johnson claimed Corbyn was running scared. "I think he has become the first leader of the opposition in the democratic history of our country to refuse the invitation to an election," he said. "The obvious conclusion, I'm afraid, is he does not think he will win."

The Prime Minister, while publicly claiming not favor an election, had hoped a new vote would break the deadlock over Brexit by returning him to power with an increased majority. But the movement suffered a heavy defeat in the House of Commons. The motion calling for the vote fell far short of the required 434 supermajorities to pass.