UK starts election battle over Brexit

Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday locked horns with his rivals in a fiery debate, setting the tone for an unpredictable early general election aimed at breaking Britain’s protracted Brexit deadlock.

Johnson’s battle of wits with the main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn came a day after parliament backed the premier’s call for Britain’s third vote in four years.

The December 12 poll was decided two days before Britain was due to leave the European Union and a few hours after Brussels granted London more time to figure out what it plans to do.

Parliament now has up until January 31 to either lend its support to Johnson’s divorce deal or even push for a second EU referendum that might help Britain move past its biggest political crisis since World War II.

Weary leaders in Europe will hope the vote ends a year of uncertainty that has chilled the business investment climate and required costly preparations for the possibility of a chaotic “no-deal” end to the 46-year relationship.

The European Union’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier yesterday said the risk of Britain’s chaotic departure from the bloc without a divorce agreement still existed, and that future trade talks would be “difficult and demanding”.

Johnson said at a record-breaking 71-minute question-and-answer session with MPs the “only way to deliver a great Brexit is to vote for this party and for this government”.

He accused the socialist Labour leader of pushing an “economically disastrous” re-nationalisation programme and “continually to flip-flop one way or the other” on Brexit.

Corbyn shot back by claiming that the Conservative prime minister’s post-Brexit trade proposals were selling out British interests to US President Donald Trump.

“Despite his denials, (the National Health Service) is up for grabs by US corporations in a Trump-style trade deal,” Corbyn said.

Corbyn’s attack line underscores Labour’s desire to shift the campaign’s focus to traditional social issues and away from its past difficulties with the defining issue of UK politics.

Britain’s first December vote in nearly 100 years and third general election in four years finds his party splintered by bitter infighting.

Pro-EU supporters from big cities have been at loggerheads with Brexit-backing groups such as the powerful trade unions.

Some of Corbyn’s chief lieutenants have further suggested the party should pick a new leader should it flounder at the polls.

But the 70-year-old Corbyn, a veteran socialist, is an energetic campaigner who nearly managed to score an upset victory in the last general election in 2017.

“The choice at this election couldn’t be clearer,” he said yesterday.

“People have a chance to vote for real change after years of Conservative and Liberal Democrat cuts.”

Labour’s Brexit promise is to seize power and then strike a more European-friendly agreement with Brussels that preserves many of the existing trade ties.

It would then let voters choose between that deal and the option of simply staying in the EU.

Government figures indicated there had been a spike in voter registration since Tuesday, with people aged 18 to 34 leading the way, although their intentions are difficult to predict.

Announcements by dozens of sitting MPs that they would not be seeking re-election have also complicated forecasts.

The two other main players -- the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party -- are adopting much firmer Brexit stances.

The SNP also sees the vote as another chance to bolster support for independence.

The fast-rising Lib Dems are going into the vote on a simple promise of stopping the EU-UK divorce by any means.

The party used a similar message to finish a surprising second in the European Parliament elections in May.

A poll of polls compiled by Britain Elects put them in third place with 18 percent of the vote. The Conservatives were leading with 35 percent, followed by Labour in second place with 25 percent.

A similar outcome could turn the Liberal Democrats into power brokers who decide the makeup and direction of the new government.

The Brexit Party of anti-European populist Nigel Farage stands on the opposite end of the political spectrum and holds fourth place on 11 percent.