Snap General election approved for December 12

MPs last night overwhelmingly voted to end the Brexit paralysis at Westminster and put the issue back to the people, setting a general election for December 12, 2019.

Boris Johnson’s plan to hold a pre-Christmas election was approve by 438 votes to 20, after Labour finally agreed to drop its opposition to an early poll, but 200 MPs abstained in the key vote, many of  them Labour MPs who fear that their party  faces a possible election rout and who favoured  holding a second EU referendum before going to the polls.

The prime minister sacked 21 Tory MPs last month after they defied him over Brexit, but he has restored the party whip to nearly half, allowing them to run as Tory candidates at what will be seen as a Brexit election.