MPs in the House of Commons have voted in favour of a snap General Election to be held on Thursday December 12th 2019.
The decision means that Parliament will be dissolved next week and all political parties will then enter into the customary six-week General Election campaign, culminating in the public vote on December 12th.
Opposition MPs had previously rejected two previous motions to hold a snap General Election – both brought forward by Boris Johnson’s government – arguing that, as the EU had not granted an extension to Brexit, a No Deal exit was still a risk.
However, this morning following the confirmation of the Brexit extension, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn held true to his word by confirming that his party would support today’s election bid.
Corbyn’s party managed to defy the odds during the last General Election in 2017 – ultimately gaining 15 percentage points during the six-week campaign and ensuring the Conservative Party lost their Parliamentary majority.
Numerous amendments were proposed to today’s election bill, including a bid to lower the voting age to 16 and to allow EU Nationals resident in the UK to vote – all of which failed.
A bid to set the election date back 3 days to December 9th was also unsuccessful.
Following the upcoming six-week General Election campaign, the public will officially take to the polls on Thursday December 12th.
It wll be the first UK election held in December for almost 100 years since 1923, when Stanley Baldwin’s Conservative Party lost 86 seats and their Parliamentary majority.
