British MPs Vote In Favour Of Holding General Elections On December 12

British MPs have backed Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s December 12 election plan by a 438 to 20 vote margin. This is going to be historic decision once the House of Lords passes the legislation and it becomes law by the end of the week. It will mark the first December-poll since 1923. The development marks a win for Boris Johnson’s bid for a pre-Christmas poll to try and win a public mandate in favour of his Brexit plan.

The UK prime minister can only hold an early election with the support of MPs, who have previously blocked it three times. One proposed change to the early election motion that was considered was a call by the Labour party, backed by the other Opposition parties, to hold the poll three days earlier, on December 9.

This, they argued, would ensure that university students are more likely to be able to take part in the polling because it would still be in term time.

Earlier, Johnson suffered a major setback earlier Monday when he was forced to agree to delay Britain's departure from the European Union beyond this week's October 31 deadline. He had previously said he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than extend the tortuous Brexit process started by the 2016 EU referendum.

But he was required by law to ask EU leaders for what is the third postponement, after MPs refused to endorse the divorce terms he struck with Brussels earlier this month.

More than three years after Britons voted 52-48 percent for Brexit in a 2016 referendum the country and parliament remain deeply divided over when, how and even whether to leave the EU.

The EU's approval came just three days before the latest Brexit deadline, a decision held up by scepticism in France about giving yet more time to a deeply divided British parliament.

"The EU27 has agreed that it will accept the UK's request for a Brexit flextension until 31 January 2020," European Council President Donald Tusk said.