A cross-party alliance defeated Prime Minister Boris Johnson Tuesday in a bid to prevent him from taking the United Kingdom out of the European Union without a Brexit deal, the Conservative premier announced that he would immediately push for snap elections.
The voting in the House of Commons ended with 328 to 301 for a motion put forward by opposition parties and defectors from Johnson’s party, to take control of the agenda, meaning they can now bring forward a bill seeking to delay the U.K.'s exit date set for Oct. 31.
On Wednesday parliament will now seek to pass this law forcing Johnson to ask the EU to delay Brexit until Jan. 31 unless he has a deal by Oct. 19 approved by the British government on the terms and manner of the exit.
In total 21 Tory MPs, including a number of ex-cabinet ministers, joined opposition parties to defeat the government. On Tuesday, Conservative MP Philip Lee announced that defected from the party to the Liberal Democrats, meaning that Johnson’s government no longer has a working majority in parliament.
“Let there be no doubt about the consequences,” Johnson told the MPs after the result was announced, adding that he doesn’t “want an election, but if MPs vote tomorrow to stop negotiations, then that would be the only way to resolve this.”
This comes as Johnson's decision to suspend parliament for about a month leaves four days for MPs to stop the premier, and as few as six days in October to pass the Withdrawal Agreement Bill after the Queen's Speech.
As Johnson’s government will now seek to hold a vote on Wednesday to approve an early election, most likely to be held on Oct. 14, the election would pit him against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, an anti-Brexit supporter.
"We'll support a vote to call a General Election, so the people can decide our country's future, once the Bill to stop No Deal is law," Corbyn tweeted on Tuesday.