Lib Dems and SNP join forces to offer Boris a December election

The Lib Dems and SNP are set to unite to give Boris Johnson a snap general election.

The move could override Labour’s plan to block the Prime Minister’s offer of a December election in Monday’s vote.

Johnson needs support from two-thirds of MPs to grant him an election on December 12, but the Lib Dems and SNP may offer him an even easier route to an election, requiring just a simple majority in the Commons.

If the European Union gives the UK a Brexit delay until January 31, as requested in Mr Johnson’s letter to Brussels last week, then the pro-Remain parties are prepared to give the PM the opportunity to have an election on new terms.

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader, confirmed he had co-signed a letter with Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson to European Council president Donald Tusk in which they sought an extension until January 31 at the earliest so that the ‘risk of a devastating no-deal Brexit’ could be removed.

He added: ‘If that meaningful extension is secured we will then work together to bring forward an election this year – but on Parliament’s terms, not on the Prime Minister’s.’

According to The Observer, the parties’ MPs have drawn up a bill that would allow Mr Johnson to secure a December election with a simple majority of MPs, by-passing the need for two-thirds support.

The draft law would grant an election on December 9 – three days before the PM’s proposed date and, crucially, when more students are still at university to cast their votes in Remain-supporting target swing seats.

The move indicates a split between opposition leaders on whether to go for a December campaign, with Labour putting off their decision on how to vote on Monday.

Leader Jeremy Corbyn said he wanted to wait until EU ambassadors had finalised their decision, expected on Monday or Tuesday, over the length of an extension for Article 50.

Mr Corbyn, speaking on a campaign visit to Motherwell, North Lanarkshire on Saturday, said: ‘We will be very happy to fight an election once all vestiges of a no-deal exit from the EU have been taken off the table.’

But the Government reiterated it had no intention of ruling out a cliff-edge divorce, with Business Minister Kwasi Kwarteng telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘No-deal can’t be taken off the table.’

The PM ramped up the rhetoric on Sunday as he looks to encourage MPs to grant him a trip to the polls when Parliament returns on Monday.

The Tory leader made a pitch for a snap pre-Christmas election after MPs passed his Withdrawal Agreement Bill through its second reading but then declined to sign off on the high-speed three-day timetable, making it near impossible for him honour his ‘do or die’ pledge of taking the UK out of the European Union on October 31.

Turning up the heat on MPs, Mr Johnson said the current Parliament had ‘run its course’ and ‘cannot hold the country hostage any longer’.

The desire for a snap election in Downing Street will have likely been amplified after officials read fresh polling from Opinium, putting the Tories 16 points clear of Labour.

It predicts the Tories would take 40 per cent of the vote, Labour 24 per cent and the Lib Dems and Brexit Party following on with 15 and 10 points respectively.

Mr Johnson also enjoys twice as much public support compared to Mr Corbyn, according to the findings.