Brexit vote result – live: Boris Johnson suffers second humiliating defeat as MPs vote to block no deal but put May’s deal back on table on technicality
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson‘s plan to call an early general election was rejected after his earlier bid to keep a no-deal Brexit on the table suffered a major blow.
The prime minister had called for a poll to be held on 15 October after legislation designed to prevent the UK crashing out of the EU on 31 October cleared the Commons on Tuesday.
But Labour and other opposition MPs refused to back the motion for a snap election, which needed a two-thirds majority in the Commons, while the risk of a no-deal exit remained.
The government failed to secure the support of two-thirds of MPs, with the Commons voting 298 to 56 – 136 short of the number needed.
Mr Johnson urged MPs to reflect on what he thinks is the “unsustainability of this position overnight and in the course of the next few days”.
See below for live updates
Labour MP Alex Sobel has claimed it "wasn't an accident".
He tweeted: "The amendment in the name of Stephen Kinnock
didn't have a vote as the Government didn't provide tellers to count.
"This meant the amendment went through although the No Lobby was full.
"This wasn't an accident you can be assured there's some skullduggery going on."
Third reading passed:
Legislation designed to prevent a no-deal Brexit on 31 October has cleared the Commons and is expected to appear before the Lords after MPs gave it a third reading by 327 votes to 299, majority 28.
David Gauke has told Sky News he was not concerned about the accidental inclusion of Stephen Kinnock's amendment
Prime minister Boris Johnson has said "there must now be an election on Tuesday 15 October".
The prime minister has accused MPs of "scuppering" the chances of serious negotiations.
He told the Commons: "It's a Bill that effectively ends the negotiations, a Bill that demands an extension at least until next year, and perhaps many more years to come, and a Bill that insists Britain acquiesce to the demands of Brussels and hands control to our partners.
"It is a Bill designed to overturn the biggest democratic vote in our history, the 2016 referendum.
"And it is therefore a Bill without precedent in the history of this House seeking as it does to force the Prime Minister with a pre-drafted letter to surrender in international negotiations.
"And I refuse to do this.
"It is clear there is only one way forward for the country. The House has voted repeatedly to leave the EU and yet it has also voted repeatedly to delay actually leaving."
Mr Johnson told the Commons: "The country must now decide whether the Leader of the opposition, or I, go to those negotiations in Brussels on the 17 October to sort this out.
"Because everybody will know that if [Mr Corbyn] were to be the prime minister he would beg for an extension, he would accept whatever Brussels demands and we would then have years more dither and delay, yet more arguments over Brexit and no resolution to the uncertainty that currently bedevils this country and our economy."
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said: “Let the Bill pass and have Royal Assent and then we can have a general election.”
Mr Corbyn likened the prime minister’s offer of a general election on 15 October to “the offer of a poisoned apple to Snow White by a wicked queen”.
He added: “We want an election as we look forward to turfing this government out.”
Peers have now adjourned so that talks between the government and opposition benches can take place to try to solve the impasse in the Lords.
Labour Lords leader Baroness Smith of Basildon updated the House to say that Hilary Benn’s Bill to stop a no-deal Brexit had been approved by the Commons.
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