The government could try to force a pre-Christmas election via a simple majority for a parliamentary bill, Downing Street has said, following a Liberal Democrat-devised plan to try to end the House of Commons impasse.
While ministers have dismissed a LibDem-Scottish National Party idea to bring about an election on December 9 by amending the Fixed-term Parliaments Act as a “gimmick”, a Downing Street source said Boris Johnson’s government could consider a similar bill-based route.
For the third time in recent weeks, MPs will today be asked to back a government motion calling for an early general election under the FTPA. However, with the act requiring two-thirds of MPs to back the plan, and Labour saying it will only support an election once a no-deal Brexit has been ruled out, it seems poised to fail again.
The Downing Street source said: “If Labour oppose being held to account by the people yet again then we will look at all options to get Brexit done, including ideas similar to that proposed by other opposition parties.”
The appeal of a plan to amend the FTPA or presenting a one-line bill to call for an election is that these would require only a simple majority to pass, meaning Labour could not veto the idea, as SNP and LibDem votes would tip the balance.
The reason the government has been wary of this route so far is that bills can be amended, with MPs potentially imposing conditions such as votes for 16- or 17-year-olds, or allowing EU nationals to vote in general elections.
The Downing Street hope would be that if Johnson gave categoric assurances about a fixed election date, thus ruling out the possibility of a drift into a no-deal Brexit, the opposition parties would pledge to not table any amendments.
However, the near-complete lack of trust between the factions in the Commons could still scupper such a plan.
Speaking on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, James Cleverly, the Conservative party chairman, dismissed the LibDem idea as “clearly a gimmick” and said he could not trust the party’s leader, Jo Swinson, to not table any amendments.
“The reason I don’t trust them is Jo said she would respect the referendum result. Now she’s going to revoke Article 50,” he said.
Another issue could be that Downing Street wants an election to be preceded by another attempt to push the withdrawal agreement bill (Wab), which seeks to put Johnson’s Brexit deal into law, through the Commons, which the LibDems in particular could resist.
Finally, any general election is also contingent on the EU agreeing to another delay to Brexit to January 31, as requested by Johnson under the terms of a law seeking to avoid no deal. Brussels has yet to confirm its plans.
Labour seems poised to again not support Johnson’s motion for an election under the FTPA, which is tabled for debate and a vote in the Commons today.
Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, said Labour would need guarantees from Johnson about no-deal before supporting an election.