Summary:
- The House of Commons failed to equip Johnson with a two-thirds majority for his snap elections plan
- Johnson will attempt to put forward another motion on this matter seeking only a simple majority
- Johnson has promised not to try to get his Brexit deal ratified in the UK Parliament before elections
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson failed to get the two-thirds majority of MPs for his idea to hold snap elections on December 12, in order to deal with the Brexit impasse. After Monday’s voting (299-70) Johnson told MPs that he would not allow this paralysis to continue adding that “one way or another, we must proceed straight to an election.” On top of that, Johnson officially agreed to another Brexit deadline extension proposed by the EU until January 31. However, his yesterday’s debacle does not mean that early elections’ idea is already off the table as he plans to circumvent a complex legal procedure (demanding the two-thirds majority) on Tuesday to get what he wants. Therefore, Johnson will propose another voting on his plan, but this time seeking only a simple majority using a so-called one-line bill. It seems that votes from SNP and Liberal Democrats will be key and if MPs from these two parties decide to back Johnson’s idea, we may get approval of early elections on December 12. Either way, Prime Minister has already promised not to try to get his Brexit deal ratified in the UK Parliament before elections suggesting no more debacles should be expected until then. Overall, all of that means another prolonged period of uncertainty, something that financial markets do note like.
Johnson was well short of the two-thirds majority during Monday’s voting. Source: BBC
