Boris Johnson held secret talks with Jeremy Corbyn today as he was forced to admit that he cannot deliver his “do or die” deadline for Brexit on Halloween without Opposition support.
The Prime Minister and Labour leader failed to agree a timetable for the Brexit legislation to be debated in the Commons.
Mr Johnson responded by marching into Prime Minister’s Questions where, quizzed by MPs, he implicitly acknowledged the October 31 deadline had slipped away.
Replying to Tory MP Sir David Amess, Mr Johnson said: “Our policy remains unchanged that we should leave the EU on October 31... we will leave the EU on October 31 … if honourable members opposite will comply. That is what I will say to the EU and I will report back to the House.”
The decision was heading away from Westminster as European Union leaders moved towards dictating a new extension of Article 50 for Brexit to January 31. Irish premier Leo Varadkar proposed the new deadline during a phone call this morning with EU council president Donald Tusk. European Parliament chief David Sassoli also backed the date.
A frustrated Mr Johnson went on the attack, accusing Mr Corbyn of time-wasting. Strikingly he was muted in his calls for a general election.
Mr Johnson’s hopes of an exit from the bloc on October 31 were dashed last night with MPs voting 322 to 308 against his “breakneck” timetable to pass legislation through the Commons in three days. However, he did not “pull” the Bill as he threatened. After the meeting with the Labour leader ended, a Conservative source claimed: “Corbyn made clear he has no policy except more delays and to spend 2020 having referendums.”
A Labour Party spokesman said: “Jeremy Corbyn reiterated Labour’s offer to the Prime Minister to agree a reasonable timetable to debate, scrutinise and amend the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, and restated that Labour will support a general election when the threat of a No Deal crash out is off the table.”
The EU leaders’ three-month “flextension” for Brexit could open a window for a possible winter election. If the deadline is confirmed, Mr Johnson would be told he has 12 weeks to get legislation through Parliament but could have Brexit earlier if he can speed it up.
A Cabinet minister admitted the Brexit process was at an “impasse” and urged the parties to co-operate.
Westminster was paralysed as it waited for the EU’s decision. No 10 could not spell out exactly how it could force an election unless Mr Corbyn agreed, given that the Fixed-term Parliaments Act states that a two-thirds majority is required. Options being studied by government lawyers included a possible one-line Bill to overturn the Act.
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A nuclear option being advanced by some government officials was for it to commit hara kiri by calling a vote of confidence and voting against itself. Under the Act, this would force an election unless Mr Corbyn or a “government of national unity” was capable of forming a majority.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said the idea should be adopted if Labour refused to back a fast timetable for the Brexit Bill and also blocked an election. “If they don’t, and want to play games, the Government has to go for an election, even maybe a vote of confidence in ourselves.”
He warned that the Withdrawal Bill could be “turned into a Christmas tree”, covered in amendments, as it goes through the Commons and Lords.
No 10 sources would not rule out a confidence vote but indicated it was not a leading option at the moment.
Cabinet minister Robert Buckland confirmed there was deadlock and said a winter general election was moving closer as the only way out.
“I think therefore we are left with the option of a general election, however inhospitable and cold the weather might be,” he told the BBC’s Today programme. “I do a lot of canvassing, and knocking at doors at night is not my ideal election campaign, but that seems to me to be the only way to break this impasse.” He appealed to the parties to work together, telling LBC: “The Bill is just lying there, waiting to be picked up. That’s within Parliament’s gift but the clock is ticking.”
The heat was on Mr Corbyn to make a decision, amid polling evidence that his party could be crushed, with marginal seats being lost to the Liberal Democrats in Remain areas and to the Tories in Leave ones. Two polls today found Labour trailing by 13 points and 15 points. However, shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon, a close ally of Mr Corbyn, claimed Labour would support a general election “as soon as no deal is off the table”. Shrugging off the polls, he declared: “The polls said we wouldn’t win last time.”
However, other shadow cabinet members were divided. One told the Standard: “I would prefer to wait a while, at least until after October 31 has passed and Boris has been shown to have failed completely.”
Sir John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, said Labour faced a dilemma as it struggles in the polls at about 25 per cent. “That’s even less than Michael Foot got in 1983, which is the worst modern result for the Labour Party,” he told the Today programme.
