Boris Johnson ready to push for pre-Christmas election after talks with Labour collapse

Downing Street warns that parliament will use any Brexit extension offered by the EU to impose more delay

Boris Johnson is preparing to push for a pre-Christmas general election after talks with Labour ended without a breakthrough on a timetable for parliament to pass his Brexit deal.

Despite a humiliating defeat on Tuesday over his plans to force the 110-page Withdrawal Agreement Bill though the Commons in just three days, the prime minister told MPs that he still believes leaving the EU on 31 October with an agreement is in the country’s best interests and intends to “press ahead” with trying to get his deal passed.

But aides made clear that the PM is ready to go for an election if the European Union offers a lengthy Brexit extension to the end of January.

One Downing Street source said: “At that point, we know what will happen. This broken parliament will always vote for delay, rather than a deal. Therefore, if parliament is unwilling to vote for a deal, then we will have to get to a general election.”

There is understood to be concern that a lengthy period of scrutiny of the kind demanded by Labour will undermine the deal by giving MPs time to coalesce around a wrecking amendment, such as a proposal to require customs union membership as the price of passing the bill.

Mr Johnson’s senior aide Dominic Cummings is thought to be pushing for an early election against resistance from some Tory MPs and officials who fear going to the country before Brexit is delivered.

However, Mr Johnson’s route to a general election remains unclear, as Labour signalled it will continue to resist a public vote until the prospect of the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal is off the table, not only for October but also for January.

If the Commons triggers an early poll by giving the necessary two-thirds majority to a election motion tabled by the prime minister, Mr Johnson will retain the power to choose the date for the ballot – potentially allowing him to delay election day until after no-deal has happened.

“One of the worries about the situation is the control of the date by the executive and the prime minister,” said a senior Labour source.

“What we are trying to avoid is any kind of shenanigans on the government side – any kind of moving of the goalposts – which would allow a no-deal crash-out. So long as that’s nailed down, we will support an election.”

If Labour will not back an election motion, Mr Johnson’s only other options would be to encourage an opposition party such as the SNP to table a vote of no confidence or to pass a one-line bill overturning the provisions of the Fixed Terms Parliament Act.

But veteran former Tory cabinet minister Kenneth Clarke, now sitting as an independent, predicted opposition parties would pounce on the chance to amend such a bill to lower the voting age from 18 to 16.

Mr Johnson is facing the prospect of the historic defeat of his Queen’s Speech package in a Commons vote – the first such rejection of the government’s legislative agenda since 1924, when Stanley Baldwin was forced to resign immediately as PM.

But under fixed-term parliaments legislation introduced by David Cameron, the Queen’s Speech vote is no longer a confidence matter, and No 10 confirmed that even if it is lost for the first time in 95 years, ministers will simply press ahead regardless with the legislation set out by the monarch last week.

With a five-week campaign required by law, Mr Johnson is fast running out of time to call an election for 12 December – the latest date thought possible for a 2019 poll.

European Council president Donald Tusk told the PM in a phone call this morning that he is advising leaders of the remaining 27 EU states to approve the request sent by Mr Johnson to Brussels on Saturday, which requested a delay to 31 January.

It is thought Mr Tusk favours a “flextension” option, allowing the delay to be cut short if a deal is ratified.

But a shorter extension of just a few weeks to allow time to ratify Mr Johnson’s deal – thought to be favoured by leaders including France’s Emmanuel Macron – might return No 10’s focus onto completing the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, which passed its second reading in the Commons on Tuesday.

It is not yet clear when the EU will respond, though London expects a formal decision by the end of this week.

In talks in Mr Johnson’s Commons office this morning, Jeremy Corbyn and Labour chief whip Nick Brown offered to agree a “reasonable” timetable for scrutiny of legislation to ratify the PM’s deal, after MPs on Tuesday rejected plans to railroad it through in just three days. Labour declined to put a figure on its preferred period, though one senior Corbyn aide said that a 28-day schedule was “interesting”.

The PM and Mr Cummings are understood have accused Labour of wanting more delay in the hope of forcing a second EU referendum – and a Scottish independence referendum – in 2020.

A Downing Street source said there was “no meeting of minds”, and no further talks are expected.

Speaking at PMQs, Mr Corbyn uged Mr Johnson to “accept that parliament should have the necessary time to improve on this worse-than-terrible treaty”.

But the PM retorted: “I find it peculiar that he now wants this bill back, because he voted against it last night and he whipped his entire Labour Party against it”.

Jeremy Corbyn met with the prime minister over a proposed timetable to ratify the deal (Reuters) (Reuters TV)

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson said the meeting amounted to “yet more clear proof that Jeremy Corbyn wants to deliver Brexit”.

“Yesterday, Boris Johnson’s deal passed because 19 Labour MPs walked through the lobby to vote for a Brexit deal that would be bad for our NHS, bad for our economy and bad for our environment,” said Ms Swinson.

“It seems that Jeremy Corbyn has thrown Boris Johnson another lifeline this morning, as six white men met to discuss pushing through a Brexit deal which will wreck our country.

“Jeremy Corbyn is a Brexiteer, and Remainers won’t forget if a shady backroom deal between Johnson and Corbyn helps to deliver Brexit.”

Meanwhile it emerged that the Budget planned for 6 November may be postponed if the Brexit bill does not go through over the coming week.

Chancellor Sajid Javid has already made clear that the annual financial statement would be put off for a matter of weeks if the UK crashes out with no deal. And Downing Street has now indicated that any extension to the Brexit process could also force a delay, as the figures behind the package assume a 31 October departure with a deal.