Boris Johnson suspends UK parliament as Queen signs off on Brexit delay bill

Boris Johnson has failed in yet another bid for MPs to find a way to get him out of the Brexit shambles with an early election.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has lost another bid for his fellow MPs to allow him to call a general election to break the Brexit deadlock.

The votes for his motion were 293-46 in favour of an election. But because Labour abstained it failed to reach the majority needed to force an election.

Speaker John Bercow said the majority did not satisfy the requirements of the fixed term parliaments act.

“I earlier urged the house to trust the people,” Mr Johnson said.

“But once again, the opposition think they know better.”

Last week, the UK parliament voted for an early poll, but not by the required two thirds majority.

Whatever happens, parliament will now not sit for more than a month following an earlier decision by the PM to shutdown the House of Commons and the Lords.

Mr Johnson reiterated to a raucous Commons that he would not ask for a delay to the current EU leaving date — October 31 — despite being compelled to now by law if he can’t get a deal passed with Brussels.

“If you really want to delay Brexit beyond October the 31st, which is what you seem to want to do, then vote for an election and let the people decide if they want a delay or not,” he said.

“And if you refuse to do that tonight, I will go to Brussels and negotiate our departure, hopefully with a deal, but without one if necessary. I will not ask for another delay.”

Earlier, the bill that will legally compel Mr Johnson to ask for a Brexit extension beyond October 31 was been given royal assent by Queen Elizabeth II.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson is making a last attempt to head to the polls to sort out Brexit. Picture: AFP PHOTO / PRU.

UK Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow has said he will resign. Picture: AFP PHOTO / JESSICA TAYLOR / UK parliament.

The sign-off came during a dramatic day in Westminster on Monday that also saw Speaker of the House John Bercow announce he would step down from his role on October 31, unless an election is called.

Earlier in the day, spokesman James Slack said Mr Johnson’s government would not seek any extension to the Brexit deadline and confirmed the five-week shutdown — which also covers party conference season — would begin.

“Parliament will be prorogued at close of business today,” he said.

Last month, Mr Johnson asked Queen Elizabeth II to close the Houses of Parliament until October 14, claiming it was needed to allow him to introduce a new domestic agenda.

He had previously said the suspension would take place sometime this week, but the timing and longer than unusual duration of the shutdown sparked uproar across the political spectrum, with critics calling it a “constitutional outrage” and a coup.

MPs opposed to a no-deal Brexit said it was clearly aimed at hobbling their efforts to prevent such a scenario, while it also prompted several so far unsuccessful court challenges.

Mr Bercow’s resignation came after the Conservative party announced it would breach a constitutional convention and field a candidate to oppose the Speaker in his Buckinghamshire seat.

His critics claim he is no longer impartial, accusing him of “abuse of process” in allowing parliament to have a say on Brexit. Mr Bercow has previously said he would fight attempts to suspend parliament “with every bone in my body”.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said “significant gaps” remain in terms of his approach versus that of Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar over Brexit. Picture: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images.

THE LEAD-UP TO JOHNSON’S SNAP ELECTION CALL

Opposition parties last week voted against holding a general election, saying they wanted to wait until the threat of a no-deal Brexit was taken off the table.

Then on Friday, after a conference with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, they confirmed they would continue to block Mr Johnson’s plans.

"We have an opportunity to bring down Boris, to break Boris and to bring down Brexit, and we must take that," Welsh party, Plaid Cymru's, Westminster leader Liz Saville-Roberts said

“The vote for a general election would play into Boris Johnson’s hands. It would allow him to ignore the legislation that is presently going through the House of Lords, likely to have royal assent today. It would allow him to ignore that. It would give him the opportunity to ignore the law.”

PM Johnson with the Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar in Dublin. What to do over the Irish border post-Brexit is a key sticking point in negotiations. Picture: Niall Carson — Pool/Getty Images.

NO BREAKTHROUGH ON IRISH BACKSTOP

On Monday morning, Mr Johnson met with Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar in Dublin. A joint statement from the leaders said they had a “positive and constructive meeting” but “significant gaps remain” in their positions.

“The UK and Ireland are committed to securing an agreement between the European Union and the UK, and recognise that negotiations take place through the Brussels Task Force,” the statement said.

In a speech following their meeting, Mr Johnson reiterated his demands to “get Brexit done” by October 31, saying he feared “permanent damage will be done to confidence in our democracy in the UK”.

“Our governments have spent three years masticating this problem. I think it is time to honour the achievements of our predecessors who tackled far worse problems by cracking this one ourselves. I won’t say that we can do it all today, but I believe there is a deal to be done by Oct. 18. Let’s do it together,” he said.