A snap decision that all parties could come to regret

The Fixed Term Parliament Act was the brainchild of David Cameron and Nick Clegg.

So it is not a complete surprise it has turned out to be a legislative dog’s breakfast.

Its intention was to create some stability by saying elections should only take place every five years, yet we are now looking at the distinct possibility of a third election in under four years.

Boris Johnson will today seize on an idea floated at the weekend by the SNP and the Lib Dems  and  push for the Act to be amended to allow an election on December 12.

As this would require a simple majority of one in the Commons there is a good chance it will pass and everyone’s Christmas Party plans will be disrupted.

But nothing, as we have learned with post-referendum politics, is certain.

The Lib Dems and the SNP are haggling over the date and want a December 9 election to make sure Boris Johnson does not pull a fast one and rushes through his Withdrawal Agreement Bill before the country goes to the polls.

The Bill setting the election date can also be amended which could see MPs or peers attached all sorts of baubles to this frail Christmas tree such as a cap on campaign spending, votes at 16 or giving EU citizens to vote.

Downing Street has said it will pull the Bill if there are an amendments that change the franchise.

Labour’s shadow Cabinet will meet this morning to decide whether or not to support the amendment.

There are clear divisions within Labour on the way forward. 

Some believe an election is now inevitable and they look weak and cowardly by continuing to oppose it.

Others fear they could suffer heavy losses if we go to the polls now and it would be better to hold out for a more favourable date.

It is also worth remembering, as the i paper points out this morning, that several Tory MPs, including a handful of the whipless rebels, are unhappy the Government has frozen the Withdrawal Agreement Bill.

They fear voters will look poorly on a party that has sabotaged its own attempt to get Brexit done in favour of a general election.

These jitters extend to the Cabinet. 

“I could be out of a job in five weeks’,” one senior minister told me.

 The implosion of the People’s Vote campaign  is a moment of despair for those wanting to stop Brexit and a delightful piece of schadenfreude for those determined to see it come about.

In some ways the People’s Vote has been a remarkably successful campaign.

From small beginnings it created an army of supporters who turned out in their hundreds of thousands for marches across the UK and forced the main opposition party to adopt their call as official policy.

Whether that was right policy is another matter. There is an alternative argument that the PV, although its cause was genuine and legitimate, holds much of the responsibility for the polarisation of opinion since the EU referendum.

Instead of focusing its energies on finding a workable solution to Brexit that would have fulfilled the mandate of the EU referendum its absolutist position made finding a compromise near impossible.

The campaign was centred on marshalling the resentment of Remainers rather than trying to persuade Leavers to change their mind.

It might have been more fruitful if those who marched through London earlier this month had spent their time knocking on doors in Weybridge, Weymouth, Wearside and other Leave voting areas.

At one point a soft Brexit might have been achievable if the forces of Remain could have been harnessed to campaign for it. Many Labour MPs were willing to make that accommodation.

Now we face the real possibility of the hardest of all Brexits and the chances of second referendum have never looked so distant.

Today’s agenda:

9am – Boris Johnson chairs Cabinet.

9.30am – Shadow Cabinet meets.

10am – Energy minister Kwasi Kwarteng is questioned by the Environmental Audit committee on reducing CO2 emissions.

11.30am – Matt Hancock takes Health and Social Care questions in the Commons.

1pm (approx) – Debate on election Bill starts (unless there are any statements or urgent questions).

2.30pm – Former Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies gives evidence to the Health and Social Care committee on child obesity.

5pm (approx) – Vote on election Bill.

What I am reading:

John Harris on what I have been saying for ages: everything comes back to housing