UK Parliament defies Johnson on Brexit vote: ‘Not a good start, Boris’

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a key defeat to his Brexit agenda on Tuesday as Parliament sought to block him from having Britain leave the European Union without a deal.

Shortly after the vote, Johnson called for new elections, which must be approved by a two-thirds majority in the House of Commons. 

The call for new elections came after House of Commons passed a bill allowing members of Parliament to introduce legislation forcing Johnson to ask for a three-month extension from the EU if a deal is not made by Oct. 31, the deadline set by the prime minister for the so-called Brexit.

{mosads}Johnson had said he would withdraw Britain from the EU even without a deal and had sought to cut Parliament’s time to debate Brexit in a move that was widely denounced as restricting Democratic debate.

The bill passed in a 328 to 301 vote, handing Johnson a defeat in his first House of Commons vote as prime minister, according to The Guardian. 

The loss led a Labour Party member to shout, “not a good start, Boris,” according to video footage. 

MPs vote by 328 to 301 to take control of the Commons agenda tomorrow, paving the way for a bill designed to block Boris Johnson from taking the UK out of the EU without a #Brexit deal

Live updates: https://t.co/TIaH4BJrtv pic.twitter.com/rGvfChpYEW

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) September 3, 2019

Twenty-one members of the governing Conservative Party defected for the vote, joining opposition party members.

Although normally an opposition party would be supportive of a new election because it gives them a chance to unseat the prime minister, Labour has not presented a united front on the issue.
 
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he wanted the legislation guaranteeing that a “no-deal” Brexit will not take place before convening the new election.

“Let’s see what happens after this legislation has gone through,” Corbyn told reporters Tuesday after cross-party talks.
 
He added that if an election was called, he would be “absolutely ready to fight it.”

If a new election is called it would mark the third time in five years that Britons vote in a general election. 

The defeat for Johnson came just hours after the Conservative Party lost its parliamentary majority when Phillip Lee defected to the Liberal Democrats.