MPs have voted in favour of holding an election two weeks before Christmas.

Legislation for an early general election on December 12 has cleared the Commons after MPs voted in favour by 438 to 20, majority 418.

The vote effectively clears the way for Parliament to be dissolved on November 6, paving the way for an election on December 12.

Earlier in the evening, MPs backed Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Early Parliamentary General Election Bill at second reading without a formal vote early on Tuesday evening.

Commons Speaker John Bercow said it was clear an “overwhelming majority” of parliamentarians were in support of the legislation at second reading.


An amendment to move the election to Monday December 9 was rejected - 315 votes to 295, a majority of 20.

The Government was understood to be opposed to bringing the proposed polling date forward by three days, and saw the amendment as an attempt to scupper an election.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said earlier on Tuesday that a December 9 poll would not be “logistically possible”.

Sir Lindsay did not select amendments which would have granted votes for 16 and 17-year-olds and EU citizens with settled status.

A Number 10 source had warned that the Government would pull the Bill if the amendments succeeded.

It will now go to the House of Lords, but after being approved by MPs it is unlikely that it will be held up by the unelected upper chamber.

The one-page Bill sets aside the provisions of the Fixed-Term Parliament’s Act, meaning the Government did not require a two-thirds “super majority” to get it through.

The result means Mr Johnson finally has within his grasp the election he has been pushing for since September after three previous attempts – the most recent on Monday – failed.

Opening the debate on his Bill, Mr Johnson took aim at Mr Corbyn’s previous opposition to an election, and claimed Labour was not interested in delivering Brexit.

“All they want to do is procrastinate,” the PM told the Commons.

“They don’t want to deliver Brexit on October 31, on November 31, even on January 31.”

He added: “They just want to spin it out forever, until the 12th of never. And when the 12th of never eventually comes around, they’ll devise one of their complicated parliamentary procedures and move a motion for a further delay and a further extension then.”

Mr Johnson said an election was needed because delaying Brexit is “seriously damaging to the national interest”, while a fresh Parliament would have a “new mandate to deliver on the will of the people and get Brexit done”.

Mr Corbyn had earlier announced that he would back a pre-Christmas election now that a no-deal Brexit was “off the table” – saying he could not wait to “get out there on the streets” and fight the campaign.

However, some of his own MPs have ruled out backing a general election on Tuesday, including Anna Turley and Kevan Jones, while Barry Sheerman said it was “sheer madness” to hold a December poll.