Brexit Update: Boris Johnson Loses Bid To Call Elections For 3rd Time

Brexit’s fate again hung in the balance Monday as British lawmakers rejected Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s effort to call a general election for Dec. 12 for the third time and the European Union extended its deadline for what is being called the final time.

Lawmakers voted 299-70 against going along with Johnson’s plan just hours after the EU agreed to grant an extension until Jan. 31 for the United Kingdom to leave the economic alliance. The U.K. had been scheduled to leave the EU Thursday.

Liberal Democrats floated the idea of a Dec. 9 election, and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said his party could go along with that but only if a no-deal Brexit, which could harm the economy, were off the table. Another effort to call elections was expected Tuesday.

Lawmakers voted last week to give initial approval to Johnson’s latest deal with the European Union but balked at the expedited timetable he wanted for final approval.

European Council President Donald Tusk announced the Brexit extension on Twitter.

Johnson sent a letter confirming the extension and saying Britain’s “unwanted prolongation of the U.K.’s membership of the EU is damaging to our democracy and to the relationship between us and our European friends.”

Johnson said he fears the current Parliament “will never [ratify the agreement] as long as it has the option of further delay.” He urged the EU to make clear that the latest extension is the last.

Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, agreed, tweeting: “Whether the U.K.’s democratic choice is revoke or an orderly withdraw, confirmed or not in a second referendum, the uncertainty of Brexit has gone on for far too long. This extra time must deliver a way forward.”

The EU has said it will not engage in further negotiations.

“This Parliament has repeatedly failed to deliver on its promise to respect the referendum. Millions of families and businesses can’t plan because of constant delays. We need a new parliament by Christmas so we can get Brexit done in January and the country can move on,” Johnson’s office said in a statement.

Some groups have floated the idea of a second referendum on the issue. Another alternative would be to cancel Brexit without a referendum, but the current government is unlikely to do so. Liberal Democrats have said they would do just that if they managed to win a majority in the House of Commons.