Boris Johnson faces uphill battle to force general election after Brexit Commons defeat

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Boris Johnson faces an increasingly desperate battle to force a general election after his motion to trigger one was rejected.

The Prime Minister suffered a double defeat in the Commons last night as MPs voted to compel him to secure another Brexit extension before denying him a snap election on October 15.

Mr Johnson failed to get two thirds of MPs to back an election being held, a threshold needed under the 2011 Fixed Term Parliaments Act. Hundreds of MPs abstained in the vote, with 298 voting in favour and 56 against.

The PM accused Jeremy Corbyn of wanting to “stop the people from voting”, saying: “He has become, to my knowledge, the first leader of the opposition in the democratic history of our country to refuse the invitation to an election.”

Boris Johnson addresses the Commons as MPs debate Brexit on Wednesday 
EPA

However, opposition parties are wary of falling into a “trap” they suspect the Government is laying to mothball Parliament with an election in order to get no deal through.

Labour leader Mr Corbyn said he would back an early general election, but only once the bill to delay Brexit becomes law.

Jeremy Corbyn accused of wanting to 'stop the people from voting. 
AFP/Getty Images

This threatens to plunge Mr Johnson further into crisis as he would remain in Number 10 under a legal obligation to break his pledge to bring the UK out of the EU on October 31 with or without a deal.

The bill aimed at blocking no deal cleared another hurdle in the early hours of this morning after the Government announced a breakthrough in the Lords.

There were fears the Bill could have been stalled in the Lords, with Labour peer and leading lawyer Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws accusing Tory peer Lord True, who had submitted a raft of amendments to the motion, of time-wasting.

The Lords sat until 1.30am when chief whip Lord Ashton of Hyde said all stages of the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 6) Bill will be completed by 5pm on Friday.

"We have also received a commitment from the chief whip in the House of Commons that Commons consideration of any Lords amendments will take place on Monday and it is the Government's intention that the Bill be ready for Royal Assent," he told peers.

The Commons setbacks for the PM came after the Tory civil war deepened, with Mr Johnson hit with a backlash over his decision to bar 21 MPs from standing as Conservative MPs at the next election.

He also faced anger from MPs over the conduct of his No10 chief adviser Dominic Cummings with one veteran Tory branding him “an unelected foul-mouthed oaf”.

John Bercow speaks during a Brexit debate in the Commons on Wednesday night
EPA

Separately, Mr Johnson is also facing a fresh legal attack over his planned suspension of Parliament. A hearing in a case against him at the High Court in London today comes the day after he fought off a similar action in Scotland.

The bid to challenge the legality of the prorogation of Parliament will be heard by the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett and two other leading judges.

An urgent application for a judicial review was launched against the Prime Minister by businesswoman Gina Miller, who successfully challenged the Government at the High Court in 2016 over the triggering of the Article 50 process to start the Brexit countdown.

Former PM Sir John Major and three other parties have been given the go-ahead to join her legal action. The High Court has granted him permission to intervene in the case in writing.

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