Boris Johnson has insisted Jeremy Corbyn should “man up” and back his plans for a General Election in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

The Prime Minister said Labour is “split from top to bottom” as he argued for another snap poll to be held on December 12. 

It came as the SNP called for opposition parties to come together and force an immediate poll as early as December 5.

The party’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford suggested the current rules could be bypassed to allow an election to take place as soon as possible.

He said: “What I want the opposition parties to do is to come together to force an election as quickly as possible. 

“I’m not sure why we should be waiting for December 12. I think we can do it faster than that.

“But what we should be doing is recognising we have a problem – putting this back to the people with a General Election, but not with the strings attached.”

Mr Blackford said opposition parties should come together and force a vote of no confidence to bring down the Government, before moving quickly to an election.

And he suggested the Fixed-term Parliaments Act could be bypassed to speed up the process. 

He told the BBC’s Politics Live: “We can have a simple majority, we can do this very quickly so that we can have an election on December 5. 

“Parliament can legislate for what it likes if it’s willing to do so.”

The Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP said it was “really important” that the EU offers an extension to the end of January, and that a no-deal Brexit is taken off the table in the short-term.

Speaking to reporters in Milton Keynes, Mr Johnson reiterated his offer to give MPs more time to consider his Brexit plan if they agreed to a poll on December 12. 

He said it was up to Mr Corbyn to decide whether to get the deal done.

The Prime Minister insisted Britain could still leave the EU on October 31, despite the 27 other EU member states accepting the “principle of an extension”, but said the fate of Britain’s exit date was now in Brussels’ hands.
Mr Johnson said Labour is split on whether to hold an election, adding: “We have got Momentum, who are the communists who back part of the Jeremy Corbyn enterprise, saying they want an election.

“And then you have got loads of MPs led by guys like Keir Starmer and Tom Watson who don’t seem to want an election...

“Time for Corbyn – man up. Let’s have an election on December 12.”

Mr Johnson will need Labour votes if he is to get the two-thirds majority in the Commons that he requires to go to the country under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act.

However, Mr Corbyn has said he wants a no-deal Brexit taken off the table before any election. A vote on holding a snap poll will take place on Monday. 
While some around Mr Corbyn back an election, many Labour MPs are bitterly opposed to a poll, fearing confusion over the party’s position on Brexit will cost them at the ballot box.

Many MPs also argue Mr Johnson’s proposed election timetable, which would require them to complete the ratification of his deal by November 6 when Parliament would be dissolved, still does not allow for proper scrutiny.
Chancellor Sajid Javid said the Government will push “again and again” for an election if the opposition denies Mr Johnson a pre-Christmas poll.

He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “The Opposition have said, week after week, that if there is a delay of three months, which is what they requested through Parliament, then they will vote for a General Election, so let’s see if they keep their word.

“And if they don’t then we will keep bringing back to Parliament a motion to have an election – and we will keep doing that again and again.

“As for other parliamentary business, we’ll have to wait and see what that is, and we will react to it at that time.”

Mr Javid said the stalemate over Brexit had reduced Westminster to a “zombie parliament”. 

He said that if Labour MPs do not trust the Government they should agree to a General Election, adding: “They can’t have it both ways.

“They can’t, on the one hand, make Parliament deliberately dysfunctional, turn it into a zombie parliament so we can’t get on with the business of governing, and, on the other hand, refuse to actually then have an election and bring an end to it.”

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said Labour needed an “explicit commitment” that a no-deal Brexit was off the table before the party would be prepared to back an election.

She said that could require further legislation, as promises by Mr Johnson were “not worth the paper they’re written on”.

She added: “The December day is a ludicrous day. We’ve not had a General Election at Christmas for over a century, and there are good reasons for that.”