British MPs have thwarted a motion to hold an early general election next month, after it was submitted by British prime minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday night, Irish Times reports.
Members of the House of Commons voted by 298 votes to 56 for the motion, but it did not reach the required support of two-thirds of MPs, falling short by 136 votes.
Mr Johnson will now set out in the House of Commons how he plans to proceed. After the result was announced on Wednesday night the PM accused opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of wanting to “stop the people from voting.
“ I think he has become the first, to my knowledge, the first leader of the opposition in the democratic history of our country to refuse the invitation to an election.”
The election vote was one of several defeats for Mr Johnson on Wednesday. MPs had already passed a Bill aimed at blocking a no-deal Brexit. They voted for a third reading of the Bill by 327 votes to 299, a majority of 28, on Wednesday evening. The Bill will now go to the House of Lords for the third reading.
The Brexit Bill, tabled by Labour’s Hilary Benn, would require the prime minister to seek a three-month article 50 extension if he has not secured a Brexit deal by October 19th.
After that Bill was passed British prime minister Boris Johnson called for a national election on October 15th, saying he would take the UK out of the EU on October 31st as scheduled if he was still prime minister then.