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
Follow updates from Westminster as they happened
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
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
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has begun speaking.
The shadow chancellor has suggested the spending review was full of “meaningless platitudes” and should be sent back to No 10 strategist Dominic Cummings.
He also made a cutting reference to the prime minister’s recent row with his girlfriend – saying Boris Johnson is shouting at him and “the last time the member for Uxbridge shouted at someone they had to call the police”.
Labour has accused the spending round of being nothing more than “grubby electioneering” by Boris Johnson’s right-hand man Dominic Cummings.
Earlier this afternoon rebel Tory MP Margot James spat out Cummings name as she reminded the prime minister that “advisers [should] advise”.
Zamira Rahim has taken a look at the growing pressure on the No 10 strategist.
Sajid Javid has been accused of failing to tackle complaints that thousands of people are suffering from the “brutal rollout” of Universal Credit benefits.
Campaign groups have warned that the five-week wait for the payment was causing hardship for families. Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, which runs hundreds of food banks across the country, said: “This spending review was a lost opportunity. As the country looks to the future, we need our government to put policy ahead of politics.
“It was particularly disappointing to see no action on the five-week wait for Universal Credit - we know this is pushing people to the doors of food banks.”
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell told the Commons: “Does the Chancellor have any words for the thousands suffering from the brutal rollout of Universal Credit?
“Traditionally the spending review concentrates on department expenditure limits rather than social security, but there is no reason why the chancellor couldn’t have signalled the government’s intent - at least – to end the misery and hardship their policy is causing.”
Nicola Sturgeon also senses Labour is backing away from a snap election in mid-October.
Here’s our deputy political editor Rob Merrick on the big increase in spending on public services.
More snap election sass. SNP parliamentarians now adopting the “chicken” rhetoric used by Boris Johnson at PMQs. Will Labour take the bait? Or the feed, as it were.
Is the snap election still a possibility? Speak to different Labour figures and you’ll get different answers.
It was the cockney twang that did it. The wide vowels and the half-dropped H’s. The reminder, not that one was needed, that beneath his turban and behind his greying beard, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, born in Slough and now the town's MP, is as British as they come. “Mr Speaker,” he began. “If I decide to wear a turban, or you decide to wear a kippah or a skull cap, or she decides to wear a hijab or a burkha, does that mean it is open season for right honourable members of this house to make derogatory and divisive remarks about our appearance?”
Eyes were widening. Silence swept across the benches behind the prime minister like the blast radius from a nuclear explosion, writes Tom Peck.
Sitting by the prime minister’s side was the chancellor, Sajid Javid, the son of a bus driver. He, and everyone else, knew where they were about to be taken – and it wasn’t going to be a pleasant journey. And indeed it wasn’t.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments