UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday proposed settling the Brexit crisis through an early election on December 12 that could help Britain finally find a way out of the European Union.
The Conservative leaders’ offer comes with his party leading opinion surveys and the opposition split over whether to back a snap poll or to seek a new EU membership referendum that could undo the one triggering Brexit in 2016.
It also suggests that Johnson has all but given up on his repeated pledge to take Britain out of the EU after nearly 50 years by the twice-delayed October 31 deadline.
The government said parliament would have “an opportunity to debate and approve” the election proposal on Monday — just after Brussels is expected to announce the length of a new delay.
But opposition lawmakers have rejected two past early election offers from Johnson and have shown no clear indication of being willing to back one now.
Johnson told his political rivals Thursday that he was ready to resume debates on his tough EU divorce terms should parliament take up his offer.
He effectively pulled the plan after lawmakers refused Tuesday to rush it through in time for him to meet his “do-or-die” pledge to deliver Brexit on time.
Johnson said Thursday that it was now “our duty to end this nightmare and provide the country with a solution.
“We cannot risk wasting the next three months then this farce being replayed with yet another delay in January 2020,” he wrote in a letter to opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
“Parliament cannot continue to hold the country hostage.
Labour has previously refused to back a snap election until the possibility of a chaotic “no-deal” divorce has been firmly ruled out.
The party’s parliamentary business spokeswoman Valerie Vaz reaffirmed that position in parliament Thursday — to jeers from Conservative MPs.
