Jeremy Corbyn has said an election on 12 December would be “really odd so near Christmas” as he made it clear Labour would not vote to go to the polls until Boris Johnson ruled out a no-deal Brexit.
The Labour leader insisted he was ready for another election, but told ITV’s This Morning: “We’ve got to get no deal taken off the table first.”
The Brexit process is at an impasse because Johnson is refusing to proceed with his withdrawal agreement bill until parliament agrees to an election. Corbyn is refusing to do so until no deal is removed as an option, and the EU appears to be waiting until Monday’s vote on an election before deciding what length of Brexit extension to grant.
The Labour leader said his preference would be for Johnson to “come to parliament on Monday and make it absolutely clear there is no crash out” because his deal leaves open the possibility of moving to World Trade Organization terms at the end of 2020. “He has got to take it out to my satisfaction,” he said.
Corbyn’s statement suggests Labour would want some sort of amendment to the Brexit bill to prevent a no-deal departure before it would vote for a general election. But Johnson has shelved his Brexit legislation until an election is granted.
Corbyn said a no-deal exit was “very dangerous” and could lead to the closure of Ford in Bridgend, Nissan in Sunderland and Airbus in mid Wales.
He denied that Labour’s reluctance to go for an election was to do with his standing in the opinion polls and argued that Johnson’s preferred date – 12 December – was “really very odd” being so close to Christmas and after the end of university terms.
Corbyn said an election could still take place before that time and that he wanted an election so the country could debate domestic issues and have a chance to end austerity. However, many within his shadow cabinet and parliamentary party are opposed to holding an election while Brexit remains unresolved and the party is trailing behind the Conservatives in the polls.
Speaking later on Friday, Johnson struggled to explain why he was pushing so hard for an election when he had managed to reach a Brexit deal with the EU that he was refusing to let parliament debate.
His main argument was that he did not want MPs to get into “Brexitology” without the deadline of an election hanging over them. But he has little hope of persuading Labour, the Scottish National party, the Liberal Democrats and other parties to agree to one before Christmas, meaning he will have to make a choice about what else to do with the three-month extension likely to be offered by the EU.
On a visit to a hospital, Johnson said: “We can bring back the withdrawal bill, we can discuss it again in parliament, we can have more debates on Brexit, if that’s what [Corbyn] really wants, but they’ve got to agree a deadline, because nobody will believe that the Labour party is really going to allow Brexit to happen unless there is a deadline of an election on December 12.
“And let’s be clear, this parliament has been sitting now doing absolutely nothing but delay Brexit, pushing it out with delay after delay for three-and-a-half years.
“And I think for MPs across the house to have any credibility about delivering Brexit they now have to commit to an election on December 12. So that’s what we’re pushing for.”
Johnson finished by saying Corbyn should “man up” and vote for his proposal for an election.
No 10 had suggested on Thursday that the government could go “on strike” and refuse to do anything until an election took place but the threat appeared to soften on Friday.
After insisting they would “do the bare minimum to keep the country running” on Thursday night, it emerged on Friday that the government will try to push its domestic legislation through parliament as laid out in the Queen’s speech, as well as continuing to push for an early election.
“He has a domestic agenda. We want to deliver for the British public,” the prime minister’s spokesman said.
