Professor Sir John Curtice: It’s too late to avoid no-deal Brexit and Tories could secure a majority He also predicted the Tories would be able to secure a majority if it can put off a general election until after Brexit day on Halloween

It is too late for the UK to leave the European Union with any kind of deal by 31 October, according to polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice.

The academic said that even if the Government decided to bring back Theresa May’s thrice-rejected withdrawal agreement there would still be insufficient time to get it through.

He also predicted the Tories would be able to secure a majority if it can put off a general election until after Brexit day on Halloween.

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“It is now too late for us to leave the European Union on October 31 with any kind of deal,” he said at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

‘We’ve run out of time’

“There isn’t time. Even if the Government were wanting to put Theresa May’s deal through, we’ve run out of time.”

He also warned the Tories would struggle if a general election was forced on them before 31 October, as they would lose votes to the Brexit Party.

But he added if, as Downing Street hopes, it is pushed to November, then the Tories could receive a boost from the Leave vote.

He added: “My view is that if the Government is forced into an election this side of October 31, it’s going to be a tough call for the Tories.

“If they can wait until afterwards and they deliver Brexit, and the delivery of Brexit is seen to be successful, then so long as the remain vote remains divided then they should be able to squeeze the Brexit Party votes sufficiently that they can get a majority.”