Boris Johnson’s third attempt for early election rejected by MPs

MPs have rejected Boris Johnson’s third attempt to force an early general election to end the Brexit deadlock.

The Prime Minister had urged the Commons to back his plan for a poll on December 12 – which would have provided time to pass the Withdrawal Agreement Bill before the campaign starts.

But MPs voted 299 to 70, short of the two-thirds majority needed, in favour of a snap election.

Mr Johnson is now expected to make a fresh attempt to drive legislation through the Commons which would only require a simple majority, and set aside the provisions of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act.

It comes after the Liberal Democrats and SNP indicated over the weekend that they would back such an approach if the poll was held on December 9.