Boris Johnson news – live: EU delays Brexit extension decision until next week, as Labour vows to scupper PM’s election bid

Is a general election actually quite a popular idea?

Remember Brenda from Bristol? She was the poor woman who told the BBC when the last election was announced “not another one!”

But according to the latest YouGov poll, more than twice as many people welcome the idea of a general election as those who are opposed to it. Our friends at Statista have the info:

Appetite for an election among the public (Statista) 

Referendum backers remain opposed to general election

Plenty of people campaigning for a Final Say public vote on Brexit do not want a general election. Are they worried opposition parties could still agree to one?

Leo Varadkar says Boris Johnson ‘eccentric’ and ‘intelligent’

Irish premier Leo Varadkar has said he has a good relationship with Boris Johnson.

Speaking on Irish radio station Today FM he said the pair had a “private one-on-one meeting” in Cheshire earlier this month in a last-ditch effort to break the Brexit deadlock.

“He is the guy you see... like he is personable, he’s intelligent, he’s witty - he is very normal.

“You can talk to him about stuff, you know. Some politicians are really hard to talk to ... He’s a little bit eccentric, a little bit alternative,” he said.

Varadkar also said he would like to see a united Ireland in his lifetime, but only in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement.

Asked if he would like to see a united Ireland, he said: “I would, but only in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement so that is only in consent of the majority of people in Northern Ireland. That is really important stuff. Nobody should be forced into anything.”

Boris Johnson has made ‘misleading’ offer

Our editorial this morning states that he nine days the prime minister is offering is not enough time to scrutinise his Brexit bill – and all opposition parties should resist the temptation to back going to the polls in December.

Diane Abbott says Labour ‘up’ for election – with conditions

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott has been speaking again about the PM’s election offer on BBC News.

“Of course the Labour party is up for an election … [but] there are two things we need to know. We need to know what sort of extension the EU is going to allow and we need to be clear no deal is off the table.

“If no deal is really off the table – and given the sort of extension the EU could allow – of course the Labour party is up for an election.”

So is that some kind of hint that the Labour leadership team is moving towards that pre-Christmas election? Not really.

Abbott complains that “polling officers are saying how difficult it would be – you won’t be able to get the venues people vote in and so on”.

On the idea of a government guarantee that no-deal was off the table, Abbott said: “We’re open to a copper-bottomed guarantee – but we do know you can’t believe anything Boris Johnson says.”

She also referred to Labour wanting “an explicit assurance no deal won’t happen”.

New 50p Brexit coins officially halted

The government says it production of the new Brexit 50p coins has “paused” due to the likelihood we won’t be leaving the EU on 31 October.

A Treasury source told The Daily Telegraph: “We have paused production of the Brexit coin and will take a final decision in due course.”

More on the coins:

Lib Dems and SNP using ‘off the table’ rhetoric

Both Lib Dem and SNP politicians are using the same term as Labour on the prime minister’s general election offer: asking that his government “takes no deal off the table” before they give him the two-thirds majority he needs before we can go to the polls.

Lib Dem MP Sam Gyimah has said his party will “seriously consider” voting for an election if a no-deal is “off the table” and the Brexit extension is “secure”.

Asked if he would support an election on 12 December, the Lib Dems’ Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake said: “No because we haven’t got the clarity we need on the extension. If the extension is just one month that would not be sufficient for a general election, and indeed it wouldn’t be sufficient for the scrutiny of the bill.

SNP MP Kirsty Blackman said “we need that extension to be granted and we need that threat of no deal to be removed from the table” before the party agrees to an election.

She says the Scottish nationalists just don’t want to give Boris Johnson any chance to “ram this bill through in advance” of an election.

This paranoid tweet from Lib Dem MP Layla Moran seems to sum up the mood.

EU ambassadors won’t make decision on extension length today

Corbyn hints he could agree to election within ‘days’ – if no deal risk removed

Jeremy Corbyn has been speaking about a possible election on Good Morning Britain.

He wants the PM to make clear there’s no “possibility” of a no-deal crash-out of the EU. “My position is, we’ve got to get no deal taken off the table first because it would be catastrophic for jobs and businesses in Britain and very damaging for Northern Ireland.

“Providing the prime minister comes to parliament on Monday and makes it absolutely clear he is going to make sure that there is no crash out - because his deal includes the possibility of a no-deal exit.

“He’s going to have to do that because that’s how parliament works: we’ve got to hold him to account. I think a no-deal exit is very dangerous. If he comes on Monday and says that, okay.”

Corbyn appeared to suggest Johnson could rule out no deal as early as Friday.

Asked by Richard Madeley how long people will have to wait, Corbyn said: “I think probably a couple of days. Maybe even today.”

Asked about the PM’s proposed election date, Corbyn said: “The 12th of December date is really odd for many reasons. It's so near Christmas, it's after universities have ended their terms, etc."

Asked if he would prefer an election next year, Corbyn said: “Maybe before that, before December 12.”

Remember, the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said this morning he would be agreeable to a 5 December election.

EU will make extension decision on Monday or Tuesday

EU ambassadors failed to reach agreement on a further Brexit delay at a meeting in Brussels on Friday morning.

Diplomats say a decision is now expected on Monday or Tuesday next week – just 48 hours before the UK is due to crash out of the bloc.

Our Europe correspondent Jon Stone has all the details on this breaking story.