Boris Johnson news - live: Election to be held on 12 December after plans to give vote to EU citizens and 16-year-olds dismissed

Jeremy Corbyn ‘can’t wait’ to fight pre-Christmas election

The Labour leader has been answering questions about why he decided it was time to back a December election.

“We wanted an election, but we wanted no deal to be taken off the table. We’ve now hand confirmation from all 28 member states that no deal is off the table.”

He says he’s “looking forward” to getting out there with his fellow shadow cabinet members and activists “to give a message of hope”.

Corbyn makes clear the amendments on 16-year-olds and EU citizens getting vote won’t become sticking points, and says he “can’t wait to get out there”.

UK set for first December election since 1923

The UK is now set for a pre-Christmas general election after Labour agreed to back an early poll, writes our political editor Andrew Woodcock.

The national vote is likely to be held on 12 December, under the terms of legislation tabled by prime minister Boris Johnson and due to be voted on in the House of Commons today.

At a meeting of Labour’s shadow cabinet, Jeremy Corbyn told his top team that the party could now back an early election as its condition that a no-deal Brexit must be off the table had been met.

Addressing the shadow cabinet, Corbyn promised “the most ambitious and radical campaign for real change our country has ever seen” in the upcoming battle for 10 Downing Street.

The Labour leader told colleagues: “I have consistently said that we are ready for an election and our support is subject to a no-deal Brexit being off the table.

“We have now heard from the EU that the extension of Article 50 to 31 January has been confirmed, so for the next three months, our condition of taking no-deal off the table has now been met.

“We will now launch the most ambitious and radical campaign for real change our country has ever seen.”

The party’s support means that Johnson is now certain to win the simple majority he needs to pass a bill overriding fixed-term parliaments’ laws and ushering in a December poll.

The government had earlier signalled it was ready to consider an 11 December date for the election in the hope of winning the support of Liberal Democrats, who had earlier rejected the Tory proposal of the 12th.

Some Labour MPs could vote against December election

Labour MP Ben Bradshaw – a firm backer of a second referendum – has said some of his colleagues could defy the leadership and vote against the general election.

He said it would be “far more sensible” to allow Boris Johnson to bring back his deal, then have a referendum on his deal.

“General elections are not a democratically legitimate way of resolving a binary issue like Brexit,” he said.

Labour MP calls general election ‘sheer madness’

While many Labour figures tweeted enthusiastically about the prospect of an election, Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman posted: “Sheer madness to hold a General Election in December & on Boris Johnson’s agenda!”

Sheerman also claimed: “I hear Labour frontbenchers & whips resigning over decision to vote for December election.”

Liberal Democrat MP Heidi Allen, a former Tory, has announced that she will stand down at the next election.

In her letter to her South Cambridgeshire constituents, she said she was "exhausted by the invasion into my privacy and the nastiness and intimidation that has become commonplace".

The unrest continues over at the People's Vote campaign. We understand that the 40 staff members who were meeting with chairman Roland Rudd and Patrick Heneghan, the new chief executive, have now walked out in protest.

One staffer told The Independent that employees were "incredibly upset" and had discussed the possibility of resigning en masse. They added:

"People want to get back to work but now don't feel safe or secure or happy in their jobs."

Liberal Democrat MP Sam Gyimah, a defector from the Tories, will stand in Kensington at the next election, he has announced.

The former minister and current MP for East Surrey will take on Labour incumbent Emma Dent Coad, although Kensington has typically been a Labour-Tory marginal. Dent Coad currently has a majority of just 20, so the Tories will be confident of winning the seat if the left-wing vote is split (the Lib Dems won just 12 per cent of the vote in 2017).

How many Labour MPs will vote against general election?

It seems there are still hopes among some backbencher Labour MPs that the scale of their rebellion could be big enough to deny Boris Johnson his December election.

Labour MP Peter Kyle – a leading supporter of a second referendum – says he won’t back it. If the election does go ahead, he suggests we could be heading for another hung parliament.

Giving 16-year-olds vote ‘administratively impossible’, says No 10

Asked about the early general election bill potentially being amended to allow votes for 16 and 17-year-olds, the prime minister’s spokesman said it would be “administratively impossible” to deliver.

“The government’s position has not changed: we have no plans to lower the national voting age.

“Eighteen is widely recognised as the age people become an adult. Below the age of 18 you are treated as a minor in both the foster care system and the criminal justice system. Full citizenship rights including voting should be gained at adulthood.”

He added: “I think it is also important for me to point out that votes at 16 are administratively impossible to deliver in the time available - there would be less than three weeks before the voter registration deadline to register 16 and 17-year-olds.”

And on EU nationals potentially being given the vote, the PM’s spokesman said: “Changing the election franchise days before an election could cause administrative chaos.

“There would be between 2.4 million to three million people added to the electoral roll at the last minute with no idea on the cost or logistical burden this could cause.

“This may in turn lead to delays with polling cards, postal votes and at polling stations that could undermine everyone's ability to vote in the election.

“It would also mean EU nationals in the UK enjoying wider voting rights than UK nationals in any other country other than Ireland. Citizenship requirements are the norm in national elections in democracies including the United Kingdom.”

Lord Ashcroft suggests electoral pact with Brexit Party – and a peerage for Nigel Farage

The pollster and long-time Tory donor Lord Ashcroft has suggested Nigel Farage and his Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice should be handed peerages in return for an electoral deal which could see the Conservatives given a “clear run” everywhere outside of a dozen seats in the North.