No 10 is understood to believe it can resubmit motion after no-deal bill has been made law

Boris Johnson will seek to trigger an election again on Monday, daring Labour not to back the motion after the no-deal bill has been made law.

The leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, said the government would seek to bring the same motion back and that parliament would not be prorogued until the bill had received royal assent.

Downing Street will resubmit the same motion which needs a two-thirds majority under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act (FTPA). Should the motion pass, parliament is expected to be prorogued on Monday but should it fail, Johnson has the option of attempting another route and keeping parliament going until Thursday – the deadline for prorogation.

It will need 434 MPs to back the plan but there are still divisions in Labour about whether to support any election before an extension to article 50 has been not only passed into law, but secured with the EU.

The House of Commons Speaker, John Bercow, has previously objected to the same motion being put forward twice when Theresa May attempted to submit her Brexit deal on multiple occasions, but Number 10 believes it will be permitted because of the no-deal bill receiving royal assent, a material change of circumstances.

Should the plan fail, Johnson will be faced with the difficult dilemma of trying to force an election using a different route which requires only a simple majority – either a one-line bill to amend the FTPA or calling a no-confidence vote in his own government.

“The prime minister believes, as he set out last night, that the public must be given a say before the European council on the 17 October,” Johnson’s spokeswoman said.



There is no guarantee that Labour will back the government’s plan for an election when it returns on Monday.

The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has said there are “different views” in Labour about the timing of an election and said the party was “consulting about whether it’s better to go long rather than to go short”.

He said the party was “taking legal advice on how secure that bill is, but we’re also consulting the other opposition parties, and our own party on the date of a general election”.

Senior Labour figures, including Keir Starmer, have suggested that the election should not take place until the extension to Brexit has been secured, to ensure Johnson cannot repeal the legislation against no deal.

A Downing Street source said the prime minister would under no circumstances go to Brussels to request an extension beyond the October deadline.

“It will never, ever, ever happen, we will never do it and so eventually we will get an election,” the source said. “Watch Labour’s polling drop off a cliff when the country sees what they are trying to do.”

Q&A How does the Fixed-term Parliaments Act work? Show Hide Introduced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, the act set in place five-year, fixed-term parliaments with elections to be held on the first Thursday in May in 2015, 2020, 2025 and so on.

In theory, the act makes the calling of any general election outside this term the decision of the House of Commons, not the prime minister. A vote by at least two-thirds of the Commons in favour of an early general election would formally fire the starting gun on the process – the input of the House of Lords is not required. The act also provides for an early poll if a majority of MPs pass a vote of no confidence in the government and no new government is formed within the following 14 days.

However, a number of Labour MPs feel strongly that the party should again block the plans. A Labour source said: “There are just a handful of MPs who are feeling gung-ho and want to back a general election soon but a lot of MPs are feeling really nervous.

“The strong feeling among MPs is we shouldn’t fall into the trap next week either if there’s another vote on a general election. Most Labour MPs are adamant they do not want an election before 31 October.”

The Labour MP Wes Streeting said: “Our number one priority is stopping a no-deal Brexit happening during a general election campaign through accident or design. We don’t trust Boris Johnson and nor should anyone else. Once we are confident that no deal is safely ruled out, we will all troop through to vote for a general election, which is now necessary, inevitable and desirable.”

His fellow Labour MP Andy Slaughter said he would vote against or abstain in a second government vote called to try to bring about an election, unless he could get a “copper-bottomed guarantee” that the anti-no deal legislation tabled by the government would be adhered to.