General election: Boris Johnson to give MPs more time on Brexit deal if they back 12 December poll

Prime minister offers MPs more time to debate Brexit deal in return for passing motion for early election

Boris Johnson has announced he is seeking a 12 December general election.

And the prime minister said that in return for backing his plan on Monday, he will offer MPs more time to debate and scrutinise his Brexit deal.

In a broadcast interview shortly after a surprise cabinet meeting in 10 Downing Street, Mr Johnson said: “The way to get Brexit done is to be reasonable with parliament and say if they genuinely want more time to study this excellent deal, they can have it, but they have to agree to a general election on 12 December.”

The announcement amounts to his first admission that he has missed his 31 October deadline for taking the UK out of the European Union.

In a letter to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, he said that if the date was approved, the government would make as much time available as possible up to 6 November to scrutinise and pass the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, including weekends and extended sitting hours.

Mr Johnson said it would be “morally incredible” if Labour blocked the election in a vote on Monday which requires a two-thirds majority in the House of Commons, which he has already twice been refused.

Many Labour MPs are fiercely opposed to granting Mr Johnson an election at a time when Tories have no majority in the Commons but are leading the polls by double-digit margins and Jeremy Corbyn’s party is scraping along around 25 per cent - less than Michael Foot recorded in the disastrous 1983 ballot.

But shadow chancellor John McDonnell hinted that the party may be willing to fight a snap election if an extension to the Brexit process beyond Halloween is secured, telling reporters: “I have got my winter coat ready”.

A Labour source said Mr Corbyn would respond in the House of Commons following voting on the Queen's Speech which was taking place as Mr Johnson spoke.

The PM was speaking shortly after an unscheduled political meeting of his cabinet, who are known to be split over the wisdom of going to the country before Brexit has been completed.

Ministers including Julian Smith, Nicky Morgan and Matt Hancock were thought to be wary of an onslaught from Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party costing Tories the votes of Leave-backers frustrated at the PM’s failure to hit his Halloween deadline.

But Mr Johnson’s powerful aide Dominic Cummings has argued for an early poll, which he believes will allow Conservatives to secure a working majority on the back of a “People versus the Parliament” message.

And the PM himself had made clear that he would favour an early poll if the EU offers a three-month extension of the Brexit process to 31 January, as Downing Street expects by the end of this week.

If approved in Monday’s vote, the Johnson election would be the first in December since 1923, and would raise concerns about the willingness of activists to campaign and voters to turn out to polling stations in potentially cold, wet and dark conditions. It has the potential merit for Conservatives of falling during university holidays, when students may not be as committed to voting.

A 12 December poll would allow for MPs to be sworn in before the Christmas break, with a new Queen’s Speech in the New Year.

Mr Johnson made clear that if his Brexit bill is not passed by 6 November, he will campaign on the basis that voters must give him the kind of majority he needs to allow him to ratify his deal in the New Year and take the UK out of the European Union by the end of January.

Speaking two days after MPs rejected his plan to railroad the Withdrawal Agreement Bill through the Commons in just three days, Mr Johnson said: "What we're saying is that there's going to be more time allocated for all MPs to come together and look at it, starting tonight if necessary, right the way through to when parliament would rise on 6 November. There is a long period to debate and discuss the provisions in this Withdrawal Agreement."

In his letter to Mr Corbyn, Mr Johnson wrote: "This parliament has, with your encouragement, voted repeatedly for delay. The vote on Tuesday was parliament's last chance to get Brexit done before 31 October and it voted, again, for delay. I am extremely sceptical this habit will change and many will doubt that this parliament will do anything other than waste more time and then, in January, ask for yet another delay."

He continued: "This Parliament has refused to take decisions. It cannot refuse to let the voters replace it with a new Parliament that can make decisions. Prolonging this paralysis into 2020 would have dangerous consequences for businesses, jobs and for basic confidence in democratic institutions, already badly damaged by the behaviour of parliament since the referendum. Parliament cannot continue to hold the country hostage.

"You have repeatedly said that once the EU accepts Parliament's request for a delay until 31 January, then you would immediately support an election. I assume this remains your position and therefore you will support an election next week so the voters can replace this broken parliament."

Moments after his announcement, Mr Johnson avoided becoming the first prime minister in 95 years to lose a Queen's Speech, seeing his legislative agenda approved in the Commons by a margin of 310 votes to 294.

Labour's leader in the Commons Valerie Vaz told MPs that the party would back an election "once no-deal is ruled out and if the extension allows".

But Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg retorted: "We know whey they don't want an election - because they are afraid of the voters".

The Scottish National Party's Pete Wishart indicated that the SNP may not back an election motion, telling the Commons: "We need to see that extension secured and that extension must be long enough to protect us from the cliff-edge of a no-deal Brexit. We need to know that this Tory government can't play any games to use an election period to secure a no-deal Brexit."

And Liberal Democrat frontbencher Christine Jardine told MPs: "Liberal Democrats will not support this until we can be sure that this country will not be crashed out."

The chief executive of the Best for Britain campaign for a second Brexit referendum, Naomi Smith, said the election call was "an act of desperation".

"The government wants to call a snap election to dig itself out of a hole," said Ms Smith.

"Its attempt to bully Parliament and bounce the country into a damaging Brexit deal which cleaves Northern Ireland off from the rest of the United Kingdom was a monumental flop.

"Now the Prime Minister wants to make a last desperate plea to the British people. But they won't buy his hot air and they won't forgive MPs for rushing this crucial decision."​