{"id":47731,"date":"2019-10-25T11:09:41","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T03:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=47731"},"modified":"2019-10-25T11:09:43","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T03:09:43","slug":"uk-pm-johnson-offers-dec-12-election-to-break-brexit-impasse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=47731","title":{"rendered":"UK PM Johnson offers Dec 12 election to break Brexit impasse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cdn.primedia.co.za\/primedia-broadcasting\/image\/upload\/c_fill,h_289,w_463\/yjardeq5qvpyyv1uu3xs\" alt=\"FILE: Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses a press conference during an European Union Summit at European Union Headquarters in Brussels on 17 October 2019. Picture: AFP\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Britain&#8217;s Prime Minister Boris Johnson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>LONDON, Oct 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212;\u00a0British Prime Minister Boris Johnson offered parliament more time to scrutinise his Brexit deal if it agrees to hold a snap general election on Dec 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The premier suspended debates on his EU divorce deal after MPs on Tuesday refused to rush it through parliament in time for the Oct\u00a031 Brexit deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Johnson is vehemently opposed to delaying Britain&#8217;s exit from the European Union a third time this year but has been forced by parliament to request a delay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lawmakers on Tuesday gave their support &#8220;in principle&#8221; for the agreement &#8211; but voted down the proposed timetable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It had been the first time that the House of Commons had backed any Brexit proposal since the 2016 EU referendum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The EU is expected to agree the length of a Brexit deadline extension on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Johnson has asked the EU for a three-month delay that could be cut short in case of a breakthrough that finally sees the deal approved by MPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Johnson said Thursday that the only way to make real progress now was by MPs agreeing to a general election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;If they genuinely want more time to study this excellent deal, they can have it &#8211; but they have to agree on a general election on Dec 12,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s time, frankly, that the opposition summoned up the nerve to submit themselves to the judgement of our collective boss, which is the people of the UK.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The main opposition Labour Party has previously refused to back snap polls until the possibility of a chaotic &#8220;no-deal&#8221; Brexit on Oct&nbsp;31 has been firmly ruled out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The party&#8217;s parliamentary business spokeswoman Valerie Vaz reaffirmed that position in parliament &#8211; to jeers from Conservative MPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The Labour Party will back an election once no deal is ruled out and if the extension allows,&#8221; Vaz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two-thirds of MPs must vote in favour of an early election and Johnson is currently running a minority government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Britain Elects poll aggregator puts Johnson&#8217;s Conservatives on 35 percent, Labour on 25 per cent, the Liberal Democrats on 18 percent, the Brexit Party on 11 per cent and the Greens on four per cent. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Britain&#8217;s Prime Minister Boris Johnson LONDON, Oct 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212;\u00a0British Prime Minister Boris Johnson offered parliament more time to scrutinise his Brexit deal if it agrees to hold a snap general election on Dec 12. The premier suspended debates on his EU divorce deal after MPs on Tuesday refused to rush it through parliament in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[209],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47731"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}