Javid: government will push for general election 'again and again'

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/25/sajid-javid-says-government-will-push-for-general-election

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Sajid Javid has said the government will repeatedly push for a general election if parliament rejects Boris Johnson’s motion on Monday, as electoral administrators outlined potential problems with a pre-Christmas election including a lack of polling stations and late postal votes.

Johnson on Thursday night threatened to pull his Brexit deal if Jeremy Corbyn rejected the offer of a general election on 12 December, but Labour appeared poised to block Monday’s motion by telling MPs to abstain. The party has said it will only back an early election when a no-deal Brexit scenario can be firmly ruled out.

The chancellor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The opposition have said, week after week, that if there is a delay of three months, which is what they requested through parliament, then they will vote for a general election, so let’s see if they keep their word.

“And if they don’t then we will keep bringing back to parliament a motion to have an election. And we will keep doing that again and again.”

The EU’s plan to offer the UK an extension until 31 January is expected to be put on hold until Monday, with sources saying the latest developments in Westminster need to be fully understood before Brussels can make its move.

Javid, who pulled his November budget 24 hours after insisting it would go ahead, after Johnson’s election ultimatum, said parliament had chosen to delay at every opportunity and he believed a three-month extension from the EU was very likely.

He said: “We have to end this uncertainty. We’ve tried everything we can. We don’t have a majority in parliament, so it does require some cooperation by the opposition. And, instead of Jeremy Corbyn, as the leader of the opposition, thinking about the national interest, he has decided to put his own interests first and dither and delay.”

Shortly afterwards, John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, tweeted: “Message to Sajid Javid: Stop playing games putting our economy at risk.

“If you won’t bring a budget forward, move over and I will. Your irresponsible party political messing around will cost people their jobs. Grow up.”

Diane Abbott said Labour needed an explicit commitment that a no-deal scenario would be ruled out, which could mean further legislation in parliament.

The shadow home secretary told Today: “The Labour party is definitely up for an election, but there are two things we need to know. One is what sort of extension the EU is going to give – and, as you say, we won’t know until Monday.”

Abbott said the party also wanted to hear from the prime minister that he would take no deal off the table. “But be in no doubt, party members, and the party as a whole, is ready for and keen for an election,” she said.

Abbott said offers from Johnson were “not worth the paper they’re written on”. She said: “The December day is a ludicrous day. We’ve not had a general election at Christmas for over a century, and there are good reasons for that.”

The comments came as Laura Lock, deputy chief executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators, outlined potential problems with a December election, including a lack of polling stations.

She said: “We have issues getting polling stations generally. There’s less and less public buildings available for people to use, but one of the key challenges that we have in December is that the polling stations already have bookings.

“For May polls they’re expecting us on the first Thursday in May. Here, we’re not even convinced all of the time that the election will take place on a Thursday. So, this morning I’m sure that our 2,000 members will be getting on the phones trying to book polling stations provisionally for 12 December.

“But again, we don’t know whether the legislation will pass. We might be ending up doing it again for a different date very shortly.”

Lock said people should expect polling stations in unexpected places. She said: “So it could be that people actually end up voting in garages or caravan awnings we’ve had in the past and things like that.”

Lock said people also might receive their postal vote slightly later than officials would like, because of printing not going ahead until confirmation of an election date.

She said some people who would ordinarily vote by post might want to consider a proxy vote. Lock said returning officers were already starting to think about contingency planning for bad weather, deciding if extra gritters would be required, and making sure there would be sufficient lighting.