MPs have voted to hold a general election on Thursday 12 December 2019.
438 MPs voted for a bill to bypass the Fixed Term Parliaments Act (FTPA) and trigger an early general election. Under the FTPA, the next election was due to take place in May 2022.
The 12 December election is the first to be held in that month since 1923.
Result on the early general election bill at Third Reading
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced that his party would back the early general election bill after a meeting of his shadow cabinet on Tuesday morning. Labour tried to amend the bill to change the election date to 9 December but it was rejected 315-295.
Supportive of a general election taking place, but opposed to it taking place on 12 December, the SNP abstained in the final vote on the bill.
Amendments to allow 16-17-year-olds and EU nationals to vote in the election were not selected by deputy speaker Lindsay Hoyle for a vote, on the advice of Commons clerks.
The bill will now be considered by the House of Lords before Royal Assent is given prior to Parliament’s dissolution on Wednesday 6 November.
Tory rebels return
Before the vote on Tuesday, prime minister Boris Johnson reinstated the Conservative Party whip to ten of the 21 MPs who rebelled against him to vote for the Benn Act in September:
- Alistair Burt
- Caroline Nokes
- Greg Clark
- Sir Nicholas Soames
- Ed Vaizey
- Margot James
- Richard Benyon
- Stephen Hammond
- Steve Brine
- Richard Harrington
