- Title: London mulls over December election as EU discusses Brexit delay
- Date: 25th October 2019
- Summary: VARIOUS OF PERSON HOLDING NEWSPAPER, HEADLINE READING (English): "PM WANTS BREXMAS ELECTION"
- Embargoed: 8th November 2019 09:15
- Keywords: brexit december election boris johnson brexit delay european union
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002B2LIUKN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Londoners questioned the idea of a December general election on Friday (October 25) a day after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson demanded a vote to break the Brexit paralysis that has gripped politics for over three years.
European Union envoys to Brussels will discuss the length of another delay to Brexit at a meeting on Friday. An official from the bloc said the choice was between 3 months and a "two-tier" lag but warned that a decision might not come just yet.
Just a week before Britain was due to exit the EU, Johnson admitted that he would not meet his "do or die" deadline to leave the EU on Oct. 31 and demanded at Dec. 12 election to end what he cast as the "nightmare" of the Brexit crisis.
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said he would wait to see what the EU decides on a Brexit delay before deciding which way to vote on Monday, repeating that he could only back an election when the risk of Johnson taking Britain out of the EU without a deal to smooth the transition was off the table.
Brexit was initially supposed to have taken place on March 29 but Johnson's predecessor Theresa May was forced to delay twice - first to April 12 and then to Oct. 31 - as parliament defeated her Brexit deal by margins of between 58 and 230 votes earlier this year.
(Production: Iona Serrapica, Ben Makori). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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