BORIS Johnson will next week make another attempt to have a snap general election after MPs rejected his first attempt.
Amid high drama at Westminster on Wednesday night, the UK Government failed to reach the two-thirds majority threshold, needed under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, to call an election for October 15. It was 136 votes short. Labour and the SNP abstained.
Announcing Commons business, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Leader of the House, said a motion relating to an early general election had been scheduled for consideration on Monday.
READ MORE: Edinburgh Castle lit up with 'lying Tory' Rees-Mogg meme
He told MPs: "The House will not adjourn until Royal Assent has been received to all acts. A message may be received from the Lords' Commissioner and I will return to the House on Monday with further information if necessary."
The Commons Leader made clear that the bill, passed in the Commons and going through the Lords, to push back Brexit Day to January 31 would be given Royal Assent “speedily" once it had completed its passage through Parliament.
As Boris Johnson prepared to make a speech in Yorkshire this afternoon - with a possible visit to Balmoral pencilled in for the weekend – Downing St launched another attack on Jeremy Corbyn, accusing him of a “cowardly insult to democracy" by refusing to agree to back an early poll.
A spokesman said the Prime Minister this afternoon would “argue that Jeremy Corbyn's Surrender Bill will force him to go to Brussels and surrender to any demands they make. This would in essence overturn the biggest democratic vote in our history: the 2016 referendum. The PM will not do this.
"It is clear the only action is to go back to the people and give them the opportunity to decide what they want: Boris to go to Brussels and get a deal, or leave without one on October 31 or Jeremy Corbyn arriving in Brussels with his surrender bill begging for more delay, more dither and accepting whatever terms Brussels imposes over our nation," he added.
It was unclear what method the Government would use on Monday; whether it would be a repeated attempt using the Act or setting that aside and putting forward a straightforward motion to call for an early election, which, unlike the legislation, would only require a simple majority.
However, the Government is concerned that a straightforward motion would be amendable and that opposition forces could seek to place in law an election date after October 31, the default leaving date.
Concerns have been expressed that the Brexit extension bill not only has to be passed but implemented so that it cannot be reversed before people go to the polls.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon ‘relishing’ prospect of general election
Labour’s John McDonnell said his party’s leadership was in contact with legal experts, other opposition parties and the Parliamentary Labour Party about the way forward, admitting: "People have got different views on this."
The Shadow Chancellor explained: "The problem that we have got is that we cannot at the moment have any confidence in Boris Johnson abiding by any commitment or deal that we could construct..
"That's the truth of it. So, we are now consulting about whether it's better to go long, therefore, rather than to go short."
Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: “We cannot let Boris Johnson use an election to tip the country into a dangerous no-deal Brexit…We will not support an election until Article 50 has been extended.”
The SNP’s Pete Wishart said a general election was coming and stressed: “But everybody has to be certain that no-deal is dead and buried.”
It is also possible that, if necessary, Parliament will not be prorogued on Monday; under the order signed by the Queen the suspension does not have to start until Thursday evening.
During Commons exchanges, Mr Wishart, the SNP’s Shadow Leader, mocked Scottish Conservative MPs who voted for a no-deal Brexit, saying to laughter in the chamber: "If you want to see a demonstration of slavish loyalty to the no-deal Brexit cult cause, you need look no further than these honourable gentlemen.
“This isn't just turkeys voting for Christmas, this is turkeys voting for Christmas, turkeys lathering themselves in cranberry sauce and shoving stuffing up their posteriors."
Mr Rees-Mogg thanked the Perth MP for his “characteristic charm” and said what had been witnessed was something unprecedented and unseen in history: “a frightened Scotsman”.
He accused SNP MPs of being “timorous beasties,” afraid of facing the voters, and pondered whether it was the narrowness of Mr Wishart’s own majority, which was making him so reluctant to go before the country; his majority over the Tories is just 21.
"If he believes Scottish Conservatives will lose in their seats in an election, then SNP MPs shouldn't be in danger and should want an election," added the Somerset MP.
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