Prime Minister Boris Johnson was dealt a huge blow on Monday evening after MPs failed to support his demand for a general election. Mr Johnson has said he will lay a one-clause motion to amend the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act (FTPA) to call for a general election with the specific date of December 12, after his unsuccessful push to secure a national poll. But, the Prime Minister has been warned about making the next general election all about Britain’s departure from the European Union, if he manages to secure it.
Brexiteer Lord Norman Tebbit claimed Mr Johsnon will need to focus on “his party’s plans for Britain after we leave the EU”.
Writing in The Telegraph, Lord Tebbit said: “My advice to Boris Johnson would be to persist in demanding a general election on 10 December but to talk far more about his party’s plans for Britain after we leave the EU.
“There is a crying need to reform our higher and further education system. That would include ending the nonsense of student fees, and replacing those universities fobbing off students with worthless degrees in social studies and the like with high-grade technical and vocational colleges.”
He added: “The best step towards restoring the quality of our police forces, would be to re-establish the Hendon Police College to be to the police what Sandhurst is to the Army and Cranwell to the RAF.
“If we are serious about NHS reform, meanwhile, we should start by reinstating the former system of training nurses in training hospitals, not universities.
“Brexit will allow us to run our own country. It is time the Prime Minister told us more about what he would do with that responsibility.”
It comes as the Prime Minister failed to secure a pre-Christmas general election today after MPs rejected his third attempt to go to the country.
The Prime Minister failed to get the two-thirds majority he needed to secure an election on December 12 under the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act.
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The source also said that the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) to implement Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal will not be put back to MPs.
The No 10 source said: “Tonight we are laying a one-clause motion to amend the FTPA and call an election with the named day of December 12. The Bill is very similar to the LD/SNP Bill.
“The WAB will not be put back. This is the way to get Brexit done so the country can move on.”
Liberal Democrats leader Jo Swinson has told the Prime Minister he could have supported her party’s Bill for a general election on December 9 if he wanted to go to the public.
In a statement, she said: “The Prime Minister has lost another vote in Parliament. This latest attempt to force his bad Brexit Bill through Parliament has failed because this Parliament simply does not trust him.
“Boris Johnson claims he wants a general election, but he also claimed he wouldn’t prorogue Parliament or put a border down the Irish sea.
“If Boris Johnson wants a general election, then he could have supported our Bill for a general election on December 9. Instead, he has chosen to stick to his original plan for December 12 which we have already rejected.”
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage delivered a stunning warning to the Prime Minister after the vote.
He wrote on Twitter: “If the Prime Minister wants to fight a general election on defending a new EU treaty, that is very disappointing for all Leavers. His new agreement is just not Brexit.”
Meanwhile, the SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has signalled his party wants to see votes for 16 and 17-year-olds and for EU nationals in any forthcoming general election.
